Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students interested in agricultural and food science; Agribusinesses that need a trained workforce; and Universities that need engaged graduate students. Changes/Problems: There have been no major problems, and the only change is that the funds have been used to support more scholars that was originally planned. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? During the internship, students had the opportunity to visit the Ithaca campus and interact with the director of graduate studies and tour the campus. Topics of discussion included how to apply for graduate school, identifying research projects of interest, women in science, and many more. Additionally, there were weekly field trips to farms or food production facilities that participants could chose to attend. Finally, there was a poster session where all scholars presented their research and interacted with about 100 faculty, staff and other students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The success of the program has been included in many discussion and seminars at Cornell and at national scientific meetings. We also keep a database of colleges and universities where we send information to increase the number of applicants. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There is a critical need for more students to pursue higher degrees in food, insect and agricultural sciences. When graduate students and postdoctoral scientists were asked what influenced them to enter the field, the main answer was work experience in their respective disciplines. For nine weeks during the summer of 2014, 10 undergraduate research summer scholars were funded (in part) by this grant. We originally thought that this project would support 6 undergraduate summer interns per year, assuming full support of each undergraduate. However, in many cases funds from this project were combined with other funds from a faculty members program and thus in 2014 we trained 10 students (in full or in part) with these funds. All four departments at Cornell's NY State Agricultural Experiment Station were involved in this truly cross-disciplinary project. This unique program could not have happened without the support from this grant. The entire summer scholars program had 29 students, each writing an abstract and presenting their work at the Summer Scholars Undergraduate Research Poster Session. The additional 19 students were funded by individual faculty member projects. All project results were shared with all participants at the poster session and each of the 29 abstracts is available on-line (open access) at http://www.scholars.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/pdf/2013-abstracts.pdf. Students worked on projects ranging from viruses in grapevines; shrub willow for biomass production; genetics of vegetable pathogens; pollination in strawberry; strategies for safe food production; and many more. Each student developed laboratory and/or field research skills, and enhanced their verbal and written communication skills. Based on exit surveys, all of the students plan to apply to graduate programs in the agricultural or food sciences.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Proceedings of the 2014 Summer Scholars Program. 2014. Abstracts from the undergraduate research poster session held August 1, 2014. Found on-line at http://www.scholars.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/pdf/2014-abstracts.pdf
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students interested in agricultural and food science; Agribusinesses that need a trained workforce; and Universities that need engaged graduate students. Changes/Problems: There have been no major problems, and the only change is that the funds have been used to support more scholars that was originally planned. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? During the internship, students had the opportunity to visit the Ithaca campus and interact with the director of graduate studies and tour the campus. Topics of discussion included how to apply for graduate school, identifying research projects of interest, women in science, and many more. Additionally, there were weekly field trips to farms or food production facilities that participants could chose to attend. Finally, there was a poster session where all scholars presented their research and interacted with about 100 faculty, staff and other students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The success of the program has been included in many discussion and seminars at Cornell and at national scientific meetings. We also keep a database of colleges and universities where we send information to increase the number of applicants. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There is a critical need for more students to pursue higher degrees in food, insect and agricultural sciences. When graduate students and postdoctoral scientists were asked what influenced them to enter the field, the main answer was work experience in their respective disciplines. For nine weeks during the summer of 2014, 10 undergraduate research summer scholars were funded (in part) by this grant. We originally thought that this project would support 6 undergraduate summer interns per year, assuming full support of each undergraduate. However, in many cases funds from this project were combined with other funds from a faculty members program and thus in 2014 we trained 10 students (in full or in part) with these funds. All four departments at Cornell’s NY State Agricultural Experiment Station were involved in this truly cross-disciplinary project. This unique program could not have happened without the support from this grant. The entire summer scholars program had 29 students, each writing an abstract and presenting their work at the Summer Scholars Undergraduate Research Poster Session. The additional 19 students were funded by individual faculty member projects. All project results were shared with all participants at the poster session and each of the 29 abstracts is available on-line (open access) at http://www.scholars.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/pdf/2014-abstracts.pdf. Students worked on projects ranging from viruses in grapevines; shrub willow for biomass production; genetics of vegetable pathogens; pollination in strawberry; strategies for safe food production; and many more. Each student developed laboratory and/or field research skills, and enhanced their verbal and written communication skills. Based on exit surveys, all of the students plan to apply to graduate programs in the agricultural or food sciences.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Proceedings of the 2014 Summer Scholars Program. 2014. Abstracts from the undergraduate research poster session held August 1, 2014. Found on-line at http://www.scholars.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/pdf/2014-abstracts.pdf
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Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students interested in agricultural and food science; Agribusinesses that need a trained workforce; and Universities that need engaged graduate students. Changes/Problems: There have been no major problems, and the only change is that the funds have been used to support more scholars that was originally planned. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? During the internship, each student had the opportunity to interact with faculty during “Friday Lunch with Faculty”, where students would meet for lunch with faculty from each of the different departments. Topics of discussion included how to apply for graduate school, identifying research projects of interest, women in science, and many more. Additionally, there were weekly field trips to farms or food production facilities that participants could chose to attend. Finally, there was a poster session where all scholars presented their research and interacted with about 100 faculty, staff and other students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The success of the program has been included in many discussion and seminars at Cornell and at national scientific meetings. We also keep a database of colleges and universities where we send information to increase the number of applicants. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We have already started an intensive recruiting strategy for the summer of 2014, and are specifically working to increase the diversity of the students entering the internship program. We again hope to have 10-15 students funded (in part or in full) by funds from this grant and perhaps have 30 students in the program overall.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There is a critical need for more students to pursue higher degrees in food, insect and agricultural sciences. When graduate students and postdoctoral scientists were asked what influenced them to enter the field, the main answer was work experience in their respective disciplines. For nine weeks during the summer of 2013, 15 undergraduate research summer scholars were funded (in part) by this grant. We originally thought that this project would support 6 undergraduate summer interns per year, assuming full support of each undergraduate. However, in many cases funds from this project were combined with other funds from a faculty members program and thus in 2013 we trained 15 students (in full or in part) with these funds. All four departments at Cornell’s NY State Agricultural Experiment Station were involved in this truly cross-disciplinary project. This unique program could not have happened without the support from this grant. The entire summer scholars program had 28 students, each writing an abstract and presenting their work at the Summer Scholars Undergraduate Research Poster Session. The additional 13 students were funded by individual faculty member projects. All project results were shared with all participants at the poster session and each of the 28 abstracts is available on-line (open access) at http://www.scholars.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/pdf/2013-abstracts.pdf. Students worked on projects ranging from viruses in grapevines; shrub willow for biomass production; reproduction in onion thrips; pollination in pumpkin; strategies for safe hummus production; and many more. Each of the 15 students developed laboratory and/or field research skills, and enhanced their verbal and written communication skills. Based on exit surveys, all of the students plan to apply to graduate programs in the agricultural or food sciences.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Proceedings of the 2012 Summer Scholars Program. 2012. Abstracts from the undergraduate research poster session held July 31, 2012. Found on-line at http://www.scholars.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/pdf/2013-abstracts.pdf
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Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The long-term goal of this educational program is to contribute to workforce capabilities in utilizing research-based knowledge to develop and extend innovative solutions to address the serious problems facing US agriculture and food production. Our primary objective is to develop an undergraduate training program in which students will become an integral part of translational research addressing problems facing growers or producers in New York. The program provides undergraduate students with the opportunity for hands-on experiential learning with campus-based faculty and regional extension educators. The training included development of both laboratory and field skills, as students worked with their faculty mentor to address problems facing agriculture and food production in New York State. Additionally, students involved in the program had the opportunity to interact with agricultural industry professionals (including crop consulting firms, seed companies and agrichemical companies), as well as growers and food processors. We originally thought that this project would support 6 undergraduate summer interns per year, assuming full support of each undergraduate. However, in many cases funds from this project were combined with other funds from a faculty members program and thus we trained 16 students (in full or in part) with these funds. All four departments at Cornell's NY State Agricultural Experiment Station were involved in this truly cross-disciplinary project. This unique program could not have happened without the support from this grant. The entire summer scholars program had 38 students, each writing an abstract and presenting their work at the Summer Scholars Undergraduate Research Poster Session. The additional 22 students were funded by individual faculty member projects. All project results were shared with all participants at the poster session and each of the 38 abstracts is available on-line (open access). PARTICIPANTS: The following list of participants includes Cornell University faculty that mentored students that were funded (fully or in part) by funds from this grant. Christine Smart - Associate Professor, Plant Pathology; Brian Nault - Associate Professor, Entomology; Lawrence Smart - Associate Professor, Horticulture; Randy Worobo - Associate Professor, Food Science; Marc Fuchs - Associate Professor, Plant Pathology; Kerik Cox - Associate Professor, Plant Pathology; Thomas Bjorkman - Associate Professor, Horticulture; Phillip Griffiths - Associate Professor, Horticulture; Greg Loeb - Professor, Entomology; Anthony Shelton - Professor, Entomology; Douglass Knipple - Associate Professor, Entomology; David Soderlund - Professor, Entomology; Arthur Agnello - Professor, Entomology; Gavin Sacks - Associate Professor, Food Science; Olga Padilla-Zakour - Associate Professor, Food Science. TARGET AUDIENCES: Undergraduate students interested in agricultural and food science; Agribusinesses that need a trained workforce. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
There is a critical need for more students to pursue higher degrees in food, insect and agricultural sciences. When graduate students and postdoctoral scientists were asked what influenced them to enter the field, the main answer was work experience in their respective disciplines. For nine weeks during the summer of 2012, 16 undergraduate research summer scholars were funded (in part) by this grant. The name of each student is listed, followed by the undergraduate institution they attend (in parentheses): Shawn Lyons (University of Georgia); Larissa Osterbaan (Michigan State University); Sarah Beatty (Lebanon Valley College); Tamara McClung (University of Arizona); William Agnew-Svoboda (Willamette University); Martin Holdrege (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry); Stephan Ireland (Michigan State University); Elizabeth Miller (Saint Vincent College); Leanne Combs (Alfred University); Jeffrey Smith (University of Delaware); Dylan Tussy (University of North Carolina, Asheville); Suzanne Yocum (Millersville University); Emily Defnet (Lafayette College); Kadeem Hinton (Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University); Breanna McArthur (Alabama A&M University); Corinna Noel (Saint Joseph's University). Students worked on projects ranging from viruses in grapevines; cover crops to improve soil health; reproduction in onion thrips; improved pollination in pumpkin; strategies for enhanced preservation of food; and many more. Each of the 16 students developed laboratory and/or field research skills, and enhanced their verbal and written communication skills. Based on exit surveys, all of the students plan to apply to graduate programs in the agricultural or food sciences.
Publications
- Proceedings of the 2012 Summer Scholars Program. 2012. Abstracts from the undergraduate research poster session held July 31, 2012. Found on-line at http://www.scholars.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/pdf/2012-abstracts.pdf
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