Source: COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
APPLIED RESEARCH AND IPM FOR DRYLAND SYSTEMS (ARIDS) AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1033339
Grant No.
2025-68018-44226
Cumulative Award Amt.
$750,000.00
Proposal No.
2023-08709
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 1, 2025
Project End Date
Dec 31, 2029
Grant Year
2025
Program Code
[A7401]- Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates
Recipient Organization
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
FORT COLLINS,CO 80523
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The goal of this project is to create an IPM-centric engaged scholarship experience to immerse students in basic and applied research with direct applications to crop protection and sustainability of natural systems.This program will provide experiential learning in Applied Research and IPM for Dryland Systems (ARIDS) at Colorado State University.Students will participate in engaged scholarship activities designed to expose them to outreach and Extension and will interact with diverse stakeholders outside of academia. This unique experience will address critical challenges in 1) retaining students from 4-year institutions and community colleges in STEM fields, and 2) responding to current and future workforce and industry needs. First, undergraduate students are increasingly voicing their desire to see the connection between classroom instruction and real-world challenges we face as a global community. They are highly aware of the increasing toll of climate change and environmental cost of crop and food production and have a strong motivation to act. By coupling applied research in IPM with engagement with end-users (e.g., farmers, landscapers, crop consultants) the students will advance their critical thinking skills, gain knowledge of concepts and theory central to developing hypotheses and experimental design, and develop competence in applying their skills to the real world as professionals. This program will also support a graduate student to serve as a mentor for the undergraduates, building a sense of community with a senior student closer in age and from a similar generation. Close interactions with a peer in graduate school will also allow the Summer Scholars to learn about post-baccalaureate education, which has been shown to promote undergraduate student likelihood to enter graduate school.Further, because we will build partnerships with community colleges in rural areas, we will facilitate participation of students from historically marginalized backgrounds who are less likely to have opportunities to participate in research during their undergraduate degrees. These proficiencies will prepare students for careers that support food production and crop protection and contribute to a skillful workforce. This goal and its impacts address the NIFA foundational area, "Plant health and production and plant products".
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
90%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2112499113025%
2122499116025%
2132499106025%
2162499106025%
Knowledge Area
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants; 211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants; 216 - Integrated Pest Management Systems; 213 - Weeds Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
2499 - Plant research, general;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 1130 - Entomology and acarology; 1160 - Pathology;
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to create an IPM-centric engaged scholarship experience to immerse students in applied research focused on crop protection and sustainability of natural systems. This is an integrated project consisting ofapplied research objective(60% of time) focused broadly on addressing pest problems associated with cropping and natural systems in arid environments. Oureducational objective(30% of time) is focused on creating a summer engaged scholarship program for nine summer scholars. Theextension objective(10% of time) will allow the students to create stakeholder-focused deliverables from their applied research project and be designed to help the students develop communication skills tailored to their audience. Students will engage in applied research, attend workshops to develop their professional and soft skills, and become familiar with diverse careers in agriculture. The goal of the project is to support nine scholars each year with a minimum of six students recruited from community colleges each year. The impacts of the program include:Improved knowledge of research design and methodology:Formulate hypotheses and use appropriate experimental design.Gain discipline-specific research skills.Be familiar with basic statistical methods.Create visual data representations.Improved communication skills:Proficiency in communicating research results to diverse audiences.Create audience-specific deliverables.Improve their soft skills and advance their professional development:Gain critical skills in problem-solving and troubleshooting.Become familiar with post-baccalaureate education.Have a better understanding of land-grant university mission and careers in agriculture.
Project Methods
Student recruitment.Students will be recruited at the start of the fall semester each year of the project. Recruiting efforts will focus on students from underrepresented minorities and from two-year institutions. The collaborating community colleges, Aims Community College in Fort Lupton, Colorado and Pueblo Community College in Mancos, Colorado, will engage in recruiting activities and help in distributing application resources. We will also collaborate with Cornell University to recruit the Summer Scholars and have the support of College of Agricultural Sciences at CSU for our recruitment efforts as well. The program will also be advertised at the national meetings of the professional societies that the faculty mentors are associated with: American Phytopathological Society, Entomological Society of America, and American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America, and Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science. All materials promoting the program will be made available in English and Spanish.Student application and selection process.Applications will be submitted via email to the Project Director. All Mentor bios and research foci along with short description of potential projects will be made available on a website. Students will be selected based on their written statements on their career goals and importance of their personal experiences in their interest in research, statement on importance of diversity, equity and inclusion, and research experience. Lack of prior research experience will be weighted higher in student selection process to identify Summer Scholars who may have lacked opportunities to engage in research owing to their background and personal obstacles. Each applicant will be asked to rank their prospective mentors and projects in their application materials.Student retention.Our retention efforts will focus on building a sense of community and inclusion and cohort-building exercises. The first day of the program will be focused on orientation and group activities designed for the students to get to know each other in the context of their own comfort level and interact with their Graduate Student Mentor and all Faculty Mentors. To further increase retention rates, the Summer Scholars and Mentors will engage in weekly Friday lunches and workshops to discuss the positive and challenging aspects of their week. We will also organize field trips to local research farms and natural areas to ensure the students are involved in diverse and interesting activities outside of their main research projects. Lastly, an email list of all participants will be created each year to communicate with program alumni and create a connection between participants across the cohorts. Each year, one alum or alumna from a previous cohort will be invited to return and meet with Summer Scholars to share their experience and impact of the program.Student activities:The goal of this project is to facilitate development of two key skills and competencies critical to student success in agricultural research: 1) Ability to conduct independent research and familiarity with experimental design and statistical tools; and 2) Development of professional skills and ability to communicate research outcomes to diverse groups of stakeholders. Students will engage in research and extension activities with their faculty mentor in diverse disciplines: entomology, plant pathology, weed science, molecular biology, and data science. Poster and presentations summarizing the research will be presented at the end of each summer program.Student-faculty interaction and student-student communication:This will be facilitated through complete integration of Summer Scholars in their Mentor's research group: the Mentors will be asked that the students are included in their laboratory meetings, and that the Mentors hold weekly meetings with the Scholars they are mentoring. The Mentors will also be encouraged to participate in the weekly lunches and connect with all the Scholars through informal, unstructured interactions.Mentoring plan:Summer Scholars will be mentored by their faculty mentors and their respective lab members: post-doctoral researchers and graduate students. Further, the Graduate Student Mentor, who will attend weekly lunch meetings and workshops will serve as an additional mentor to the student. This opportunity for peer-to-peer mentoring has been shown to enhance student experiences and research self-efficacy.Evaluation:The program will be evaluated by an external evaluator.The evaluation will include student learning outcomes along with associated outcome measures. Outcome measures were chosen to include a mix of quantitative and qualitative data for both formative and summative purposes and are briefly described below. To address the limitation of self-reported assessment data, triangulation will be used to develop a comprehensive understanding of each outcome and strengthen validity through the convergence of multiple data sources. Additionally, the participatory evaluation approach addresses the potential pitfalls of response bias by engaging both internal and external stakeholders in collecting mixed methods assessment data. Simultaneously, it builds the evaluation capacity of program team members, including the Graduate Student Mentor who will facilitate mid-program interviews and post-program focus groups with support from the external evaluator.Components of the evaluation will include student pre- and post-surveys, student self-reflections, mid-program interviews, focus groups, follow-up surveys, and tracking student graduation rates and post-graduation career and education choices. Faculty mentors will evaluate student deliverables as part of the process as well.

Progress 01/01/25 to 12/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, our primary target audience wasundergraduate students interested in applied agricultural research and integrated pest management,with particular emphasis on students fromtwo-year institutions. Because the award was delayed and the funding timeline remained uncertain for several months, our recruitment window was compressed, and we were ultimately able to supporttwo participantsduring this period. Despite the smaller cohort, these students represent the core audience this program is designed to serve: early-career learners seeking hands-on experience in IPM-centric research and exposure to engaged scholarship in agricultural and natural systems. These students were targeted because they stand to benefit most from structured mentored research, cohort-building, and experiential learning opportunities that connect classroom instruction with real-world challenges in crop protection and dryland systems. Students from community colleges and historically underrepresented groups are especially likely to have limited prior access to agricultural research opportunities, and engaging them directly supports our long-term goals of strengthening the agricultural workforce pipeline and broadening participation in STEM. The project reached these audiences through formal research mentorship, integration into active laboratory and field projects, weekly cohort-building meetings, and structured professional development activities. Both participants engaged in foundational training in experimental design, data analysis, scientific communication for diverse audiences, and Extension-oriented deliverable development. These efforts ensured that even with a reduced cohort, the program served the audience for whom the work matters most: early-career students motivated by sustainability, climate-resilient agriculture, and applied pest management, and who will directly benefit from mentored research experiences that build skill, confidence, and career readiness. Changes/Problems:The primary challenge during this reporting period was delayed funding, which postponed recruitment and resulted in a smaller than anticipated cohort of two students. Compressed recruitment timelines limited outreach to community colleges and reduced the diversity of the applicant pool relative to program goals. To address this issue, the team will implement earlier and more proactive recruitment strategies next year. Planned improvements include initiating recruitment at the beginning of the fall semester, expanding outreach to community colleges across Colorado, coordinating with units across Colorado State University, and connecting with REEU hosting institutions nationally to broaden applicant reach and visibility. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students received structured training in applied research through intensive mentored experiences in their chosen laboratories, including experimental design, data collection, data analysis, and interpretation. They met regularly with their faculty mentors to discuss research progress and to troubleshoot challenges in real time. Program staff also met with the students every other week to build cohort connections and support research skill development. These meetings incorporated group discussions of project progress and focused workshops on how to communicate scientific findings to academic and nonacademic audiences. Students practiced designing audience appropriate presentations and received iterative feedback from faculty mentors and peers. Two group outings further contributed to cohort building and professional development by creating informal settings to discuss career paths, program experiences, and the role of research in agricultural systems. Survey data indicate that students showed pronounced increases in confidence in formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, conducting fieldwork, analyzing data, constructing data stories, and adapting when experiments did not go as planned. Students also reported that the program improved their understanding of scientific communication, graduate school pathways, and career opportunities in agricultural sciences. All participants strongly agreed that their research skills improved and that the program supported their professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination activities during this reporting period focused on preparing students to share their research with diverse audiences, including academic researchers, agricultural stakeholders, and the broader community. Students delivered internal lab presentations and end of program talks designed for both expert and general audiences. These presentations were shared with faculty mentors, graduate students, and departmental personnel. Work is ongoing to develop future outreach materials from the student projects for stakeholder groups in agriculture and natural resource management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, recruitment efforts will be expanded substantially to reach a full cohort of scholars with a strong focus on students from community colleges. Because we had fewer student participants this past year, we plan to expand the 2026 cohort to 15 students. Recruitment will begin early in the fall semester and will include targeted outreach to two-year institutions across Colorado, collaboration with campus partners at Colorado State University, and connection with REEU hosting institutions nationwide. Earlier and broader advertising will increase applicant diversity and ensure that students have adequate time to prepare competitive applications. Program activities will also expand to strengthen cohort building and professional development. In addition to meetings every other week, the next cohort will participate in a structured series of community-building activities and more frequent interactions with graduate students involved in IPM and agricultural research. Graduate students will assist with workshops on experimental design, data analysis, scientific communication, and career pathways, providing near-peer mentorship that mirrors the supportive interactions identified as valuable by this year's students. Additional field trips and on-campus engagement opportunities will be incorporated to further strengthen the sense of community and belonging within the program. Educational and extension objectives will be enhanced through more formalized training modules on creating stakeholder-focused deliverables, as well as opportunities for students to engage with CSU Extension personnel and local agricultural stakeholders. These improvements will ensure that next year's cohort has a robust, community-rich experience that advances the goals of the project and deepens the applied research and communication skills of participating scholars.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During this reporting period, the project advanced all three components of the integrated research, education, and extension objectives, although on a smaller scale due to delayed funding and a shortened recruitment window. Two undergraduate students participated in the program and engaged in applied research projects focused on crop protection and pest management in arid environments. Under the supervision of faculty mentors, both students formulated hypotheses, designed and executed experiments, collected and analyzed data, and participated in discussions of research progress every other week. These activities supported the research objective by immersing students in authentic inquiry aligned with integrated pest management. Progress was also made toward the educational objective. Students developed foundational research competencies, including experimental design, field and laboratory data collection, statistical analysis, visualization, and construction of coherent data stories. They created visual data representations and practiced iterative improvement of their communication materials. Program meetings included workshops that focused on research communication for academic and nonacademic audiences, and each student produced two presentations tailored to the needs of different target audiences. Survey results indicate strong gains in confidence across all research competencies, including hypothesis generation, troubleshooting, and adapting when experiments did not go as planned. Students also reported increased understanding of post-baccalaureate pathways, the mission of land-grant universities, and potential careers in agriculture. Progress was made on the extension objective through the development of stakeholder-focused research presentations created by each student. These products demonstrated the students' growing ability to translate applied research findings for audiences outside academia. In addition, frequent discussions with mentors and cohort meetings supported growth in soft skills such as problem solving, time management, and professional communication. Overall, even with a small cohort, the program accomplished meaningful progress toward improving research skills, communication capacity, and awareness of the broader agricultural research and extension landscape.

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