In fall 2023, Tufts offered the first undergraduate degree in cellular agriculture. Designed to provide undergraduates with the opportunity to advance tissue engineering research and to translate cellular agriculture research into food industry innovation, the first-of-a-kind minor is available to students in either the School of Engineering or the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts.
The degree represents a convergence of many disciplines—and it solidifies Tufts’ already established position as a leader in cell ag (as the field is known for short).
Students who register for the minor take six classes in the subject, including two core courses, a research project course, and three elective courses. Electives include offerings such as Food, Nutrition, and Culture; Food Systems: From Farm to Table; and Bringing Products to Market.
One Tufts undergraduate, biochemistry major Adham Ali, registered for the minor because he’s interested in a career in medicine and wants to become an expert in the area where knowledge about cellular agriculture overlaps with medical practice.
Olivia Calkins signed up for it because she has always known she wanted a career dedicated to helping animals and the environment—and she fell in love with cellular agriculture when she came to Tufts.
“I first discovered the field on my first day of freshman year, and I knew right away it’s what I want to do with the rest of my life,” said Calkins, a chemical engineering major. “This is my dream. It wasn’t until now that I could actually get a degree in it.”
Both students also took advantage of opportunities to conduct their own research in Tufts’ Kaplan Lab and as well as during summer internships that exposed them to aspects of the cell ag industry.
As seniors at the time the minor was introduced, both Ali and Calkins had fulfilled the requirements for the degree before it even existed. That was, according to Calkins, a happy coincidence—“purely the result of curiosity and love for the subject,” as she put it.
Pictured above: Adham Ali and Olivia Calkins