Categorizing Purdue University animal science graduate student Leah Thompson is a challenging proposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI joke that I’m grossly mislabeled, because I’m an animal scientist working on a project in Cambodia that is all about vegetables,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, her role in that project largely focuses on understanding women\u2019s roles, knowledge and attitudes about food safety. This pivot was spurred by an offer from Purdue Professor of\u00a0Animal Sciences<\/a>\u2014and her former undergraduate advisor\u2014Paul Ebner<\/a>\u00a0to return to Purdue to pursue a Ph.D. focused on international food safety research and outreach. Ebner had recently been named co-Principal Investigator (PI) on a project funded by the\u00a0Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety<\/a>\u00a0(FSIL) to reduce foodborne illness spread by vegetables sold through traditional markets in Cambodia.<\/p>\n