RESEARCH INTERESTS:

My research interests are primarily in the development of distance education programs for enhancing and furthering the careers of agricultural learners with diverse backgrounds and experiences. I'm interested in looking at effective teaching methods for distance delivered educational programs and international collaborations.

COURSES TAUGHT/EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

Agronomy 411/811: Crop Genetic Engineering (2001 Agricultural Communicators in Education Gold Award Winner)

I direct the development, delivery and assessments of our department's distance delivered modules, including workshops, satellite sessions, Web-based and CD-ROM media types. These modules are available for noncredit, continuing education credit and academic credit learners.

For information concerning distance graduate programs in agronomy or horticulture, please either contact me or go to: http://casnrde.unl.edu

MAJOR PROJECT ACTIVITIES:

The Library of Crop Technology web site (http://croptechnology.unl.edu), winner of the 2004 ADEC National Excellence in Distance Education Award (http://www.adec.edu/), consists of peer-reviewed lesson modules targeting credit and non-credit learners and science educators. This open source database has been tested with thousands of learners and utilized by teachers and journalists internationally. It receives on average over 307,468 hits from 5,150 visits from around the world each month. From Aug 2001-July 2005, 1830 users downloaded 41,000 animations for teaching and extension activities. Lessons and animations cover topics in weed science, nutrition and food safety, with translation to Spanish for weed science lessons. Funding in part has been provided by grants from the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) (http://www.adec.edu/), the USDA, Univ of Nebraska, and Industry support.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• Deana Namuth, Susan Fritz, James King, Amy Borlen (in press) Principles of Sustainable Learning Object Libraries In: Learning Object Applications & Future Directions published by Informing Science Press (http://informingscience.org/)
  
  
• Deana M. Namuth and G. Ronald Jenkins; (in press) Real Time PCR - Some Basic Principles. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Science Education CASNR Journal Series No 04-1
  
  
• Deana M. Namuth (in press) Polymerase Chain Reaction. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Science Education CASNR Journal Series No 04-09
  
  
• Susan Fritz, Sarah Ward, Pat Byrne, Deana Namuth, Valerie Egger (2004) Short and Long-term Impacts of Biotechnology Education on Professionals that Communicate Science to the Public. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Science Education 33:111-116
  
  
• Sterling, Tracy M; Namuth, Deana (2004) Auxin and Auxinic Herbicide Mechanism(s) of Action - Part 1 - Introduction. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education 33:NA http://www.jnrlse.org/pdf/2004/E03-09W.pdf CASNR Journal Series No 03-12
  
  
• Sterling, Tracy M; Namuth, Deana (2004) Auxin and Auxinic Herbicide Mechanism(s) of Action - Part 2 - Advanced. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education 33:NA http://www.jnrlse.org/pdf/2004/E03-10W.pdf CASNR Journal Series No 03-10
  
  
• Fritz, S., Ward, S., Byrne, P., Harms, K., & Namuth, D. (2004). Agricultural biotechnology training for extension educators. Journal of Extension 42(1)
  
  
• Byrne, PF; Namuth, DM; Harrington, J; Ward, SM; Lee, DJ; Hain, P. (2002) Increasing public understanding of transgenic crops through the World Wide Web. Public Understanding of Science 11(3): 293-304.
  
  
• Sterling, Tracy M; Namuth, Deana (in press) Auxin and Auxinic Herbicide Mechanism(s) of Action - Part 1 - Introduction. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education
  
  
• Sterling, Tracy M; Namuth, Deana (in press) Auxin and Auxinic Herbicide Mechanism(s) of Action - Part 2 - Advanced. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education

Select Invited Presentations:

• What can I do with a Ph.D. and would I want to?
  Hosting meeting title: New Mexico Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (Las Cruces, NM) 2004.
  
  
• The library of crop technology, bridging institutions and disciplines.
  Hosting meeting title: NMSU Distance Education Conference (Las Cruces, NM) 2004.
  
  
• Namuth, D. M., S. J. Nissen, T. M. Sterling, S. M. Fritz, I. Hernandez-Rios, A. Martin, B. Kappler, C. Mallory-Smith, J. A. Dille (2/2004) Creation of peer-reviewed online herbicide modes of action lessons and animations for public education.. Weed Science Society of America (Kansas City, Kansas)
  
  
• D Namuth (9/2003) Library of Crop Technology: An Open Source Partnership for Electronic Educational Materials Analytical Environmental Immunochemical Consortium (AEIC) (East Lansing, MI)
  
  
• Deana Namuth & Ashu Guru (2002) Development of a software tool for multi-institutional faculty with minimal computer experience. 18th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning (Madison, WI) pp. 257-262.
  
  
• Distance Education in the Sciences three day workshop/seminar series for New Mexico State University's NSF-ADVANCE Visiting Professors Program. (2002)
  
  
• Deana Namuth, Scott Nissen, Tracy Sterling, Bill Dyer (3/2002) Developing distance learning materials and courses. Presented at the Teaching and Technology Transfer Discussion Session. Western Society of Weed Science (Utah)
  
  
• Susan Fritz, Deana Namuth, Sarah Ward, Nancy Lewis, Patrick Byrne, Julie Albrecht. (2001) Diverse Educational Needs in Biotechnology. One of 48 posters selected (150 applied) for presentation at Best Practices for Communication of Science and Technology to the Public. NIST and John Hopkins University sponsored

AWARDS:

• 2004 ADEC Excellence in Distance Education Award (2003 Honorable Mention Award); Library of Crop Technology
  University of Nebraska-Lincoln -
  • Susan Fritz, Dept of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication
  • Ashu Guru, Distributed Environments for Active Learning
  • Patricia M. Hain, Donald Lee, Deana M. Namuth, Carol A. Speth, Dept of Agronomy and Horticulture
  Colorado State University
  • Scott J. Nissen, Dept of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management
  New Mexico State University
  • Tracy M. Sterling, Dept of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science

• 2002 American Society of Agronomy Division A-4 Educational Award for Internet Web Page Category; D. Lee, D. Namuth and P. Hain for Croptechnology: An open web site for lesson modules in crop science (http://croptechnology.unl.edu)