Project Number: 1235-52000-061-36
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 01, 2012
End Date: Aug 31, 2017

Objective:
To conduct an independent and outside scientific evaluation of the IT capabilities of the Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory coordinated with the Nutrient Data Laboratory and the Food Surveys Research Group; including an assessment of whether cloud computing or local data storage is the optimal approach for the next 5-10 years of anticipated data collection, storage, data manipulation and dissemination; and to implement changes to update and modernize the IT infrastructure of the Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory, the Nutrient Data Laboratory and the Food Surveys Research Group.

Approach:
ARS will compile the names of individuals with expertise to evaluate existing and future needs for evaluating good composition data arising from analysis in the laboratories. Research will include how to work more effectively in sharing compositional information and associated food and dietary analysis across the various laboratories. This information will be used to develop new capabilities to optimally collect, analyze, store, manipulate and disseminate data. Acquire hardware and software to meet the research needs to evaluate food composition information that serves as the underpinning for nutrition monitoring that will be generated by these laboratories.