The first step towards fighting food waste is educating people on the problem. Now, six Cal Poly students will have the chance to take their education on food waste to new heights. The San Luis Obispo-based state university has announced a new graduate fellowship program specifically focused on the global reduction of food waste.

The new program, announced earlier this month, was made possible thanks to a nearly $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Needs and Postgraduate Fellowship Grants Program intended "to focus on the conversion of agricultural and food waste challenges into opportunities," according to Cal Poly. Those funds will be used by the school's Food Science and Nutrition Department over a four-year period to enroll the six qualified candidates in a two-year master's in agriculture program with a specialization in food science. Fellows will receive a stipend of $18,000 per year as well as partial tuition.