Progress 03/15/24 to 03/14/25
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate students in the Animal Science major were contacted by faculty and our two ASSURE interns (current undergraduate students who had completed the ASSURE program the prior year) to talk about the program and encourage students to apply to our summer research program. We advertised the program through our website, electronic bulletin boards in the building, at various student club meetings, had academic advisors encourage their students to apply during their advising appointments, and in courses targeted to Animal Science sophomores and juniors. This was our third full year of the program and we selected 11 undergraduate students from under-resourced groups to participate but only 10 accepted our invitation. Of those 11 students, all were female, two were Asian and the remaining were White. Seven of the eleven were first generation college students, one was registered with Disability Services, four were economically disadvantaged (Pell grant eligible) and five were from rural communities. Changes/Problems:One of our PIs, Dr. Casey Nestor, left our University in July 2024 to take a new faculty position elsewhere. He was the instructor of the Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course for our program and organized the 4-week rotations for the students. Dr. Melissa Merrill will be teaching the Safety and Ethics course starting in Spring 2025 as well as matching students for their rotations and summer research lab groups. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Throught the summer, students were required to participate in professional development training workshops. Each week we hosted 1-2 afternoon workshops that were 2-3 hours long. These professional development workshops covered topics such as soft skills, leadership, resume/cover letter writing, time management and study skills, priorities assessments, two Career Day Panels with personnel from various food animal-related organizations, networking with local food animal-related industries, tours of local companies engaged in food animal-related research, in addition to improving their verbal communication skills through oral presentations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The students' research posters were presented at the NC State University Summer Research Symposium, which was open to faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students from across campus. Students from our third cohort were hired as returning interns for the fourth year of the project to talk about their experiences and to recruit the latest cohort. Our website has also been updated with new pages listing the students' research project summaries and pictures from the industry tours they participated in. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our fourth cohort of 10 scholars were selected in December 2024. In January 2025 we are hosting our first workshop/meet and greet where the PIs will talk to the students about what food animal research really is, what they can expect from their ASSURE experience and to allow the scholars to meet each other and ask questions of the PIs. In February 2025 we are holding our fourth Research Showcase where our new cohort can learn about research and make connections with potential research mentors for Summer 2025. In February 2025 they students will enroll in the Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course, learning about safety and ethics as well as completing 4-week lab rotations as was done in the past. Students will be matched with research mentors for Summer 2025 where the Scholars will participate iin research, participate in professional development workshops and present their research findings at the University Summer Research Symposium as was done each of our previous years.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
As in previous years, our ten selected students began their experience with our Research Showcase where the students were able to hear about food animal-releated research in our department and socialize afterwards with researchers whom could potentially be their research mentors, getting their programmatic questions answered. Students enrolled and completed the Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course, where they learned about important lab and farm safety protocoles, discussed research ethics and participated in two 4-week lab rotations where they got to learn a little bit about potential summer research projects and learned some new laboratory techniques. After students were matched with their research mentors, they conducted 12 weeks of food animal-related research and/or extension programming from May through the end of July. During the same 12 week period, students participated in leadership training and various professional development workshops. At the end of the July, each student created and presented a research poster at the University's Summer Research Symposium as well as gave a departmental presentation about their experience and career paths at the end of the experience.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2025
Citation:
Rahman S, Donaldson JL, Merrill M, Nestor C, Pickworth C, McKee K. Thinking and working like a scientist: Perceptions of Animal Science undergraduates in a research program. Conference Proceedings for the 2025 South Region Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education, Irving, TX, January 30, 2025.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2025
Citation:
Merrill MS, Nestor C, Donaldson J, McKee K, Pickworth C. Career crossroads: Evaluating changes in Animal Science career plans after a food animal research experience. Invited talk/abstract at the 2025 Midwest Region Conference of the American Society of Animal Science, Omaha, NE, March 11, 2025.
|
Progress 03/15/23 to 03/14/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate students in the Animal Science major were contacted by faculty and our two ASSURE interns (current undergraduate students who had completed the ASSURE program the prior year) to talk about the program and encourage students to apply to our summer research program. We advertised the program through our website, electronic bulletin boards in the building, at various student club meetings, had academic advisors encourage their students to apply during their advising appointments, and in courses targeted to Animal Science sophomores and juniors. This was our second full year of the program and we selected 11 undergraduate students from under-resourced groups to participate but only 9 accepted our invitation. Of those 11 students, two were African-American, three were Hispanic, two were Asian and the remaining were White. Eight of the eleven were first generation college students, one was registered with Disability Services, seven were economically disadvantaged (Pell grant eligible) and four were from rural communities. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Throughout the summer students were required to participate in professional development training workshops. Each week we hosted 1-2 afternoon workshops that were 2-3 hours long. These professional development workshops included soft skills training, leadership training, a resume/cover letter workshop, time management and study skills workshop, skills and priorities assessments, two Career Days, networking with local food animal-related industries, tours of local companies doing food animal-related research and activities to improve their written and verbal communication skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The students' research posters were presented at the NC State University Summer Research Symposium, which was open to faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students from across campus. Students from our second cohort were hired as returning interns for the third year of the project to talk about their experiences and to recruit the third cohort. Our website has also been updated with new pages listing the students' research project summaries and pictures from the industry tours they participated in. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our third cohort of 10 scholars were selected in December 2023. In January 2024 we are hosting our first workshop where the PIs will talk to the students about what food animal research really is, what they can expect from their ASSURE experience and to allow the scholars to meet each other and ask questions of the PIs. In February 2024 we are holding our third Research Showcase where our new cohort can learn about research and make connections with potential research mentors for Summer 2024. In February 2024 they students will enroll in the Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course, learning about safety and ethics as well as completing 4-week lab rotations as was done in the past. Students will be matched with research mentors for Summer 2024 where the Scholars will participate iin research, participate in professional development workshops and present their research findings at the University Summer Research Symposium as was done with the second cohort.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
As for our first cohort, our nine selected students began their experience with our Research Showcase where the students were able to hear about food animal-related research in our department, socialize with researchers whom could potentially be their research mentors and get their programmatic questions answered. Students enrolled in the Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course, where they learned about lab and farm safety, discussed research ethics and also participated in two 4-week lab rotations where they got to learn a little bit about potential summer research projects. After students were matched with their research mentors, they conducted 12 weeks of food-animal related research from May through the end of July. At the end of the 12 weeks, each student created and presented a research poster as well as gave a presentation about their experience.
Publications
|
Progress 03/15/22 to 03/14/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate students in the Animal Science major were contacted to apply to our summer research program. W advertised our program through our website, electronic bulletin boards in our building, at various student club meetings, had academic advisors encourage their students to apply, and in project PIs advertised the program in courses having large populations of sophomores and juniors in our major, which was our target classification for the project. In our first summer research program (summer 2022), 9 undergraduate students from under-resourced groups participated in our program. Changes/Problems:Using an entire day each week for professional development was not conducive to research as Fridays were common days for travel to farms for sample collections. Therefore in summer 2023, instead of having a full day of Professional Development Fridays, we will have 2-3 blocks on varying days during each week for professional development activities. The same activities will occur, but they will be spread across multiple days in smaller blocks of time. This will allow students to more fully participate in farm sample collections and help to maintain their attention in the various workshops we have. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Each Friday during the 12-week summer period, the students were required to participate in professional development training. These Professional Development Fridays (PDFs) included soft skills training, leadership training, a resume/cover letter workshop, skills and priorities assessments, 4 Career Day panels, networking with local food animal-related industries and activities to improve written and verbal communication skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The students' research posters were presented in a research symposium open to faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students. Students from the first cohort were hired as returning interns for the second year of the project to talk about their experiences and recruit the second cohort. Our website has also been updated with new pages listing the students' research project summaries and pictures from the industry tours they participated in. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our second cohort of 10 scholars were selected in December 2022. In February 2023, we are holding our second Research Showcase where our new cohort can learn about research and make connections with potential research mentors for Summer 2023. In March 2023, the students will enroll in the Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course, learning about safety and ethics as well as completing 3-week lab rotations as was done in the past. Students will be matched with research mentors for Summer 2023, where the second cohort will do research, participate in professional development training, and present their research findings at a research symposium as was done for the first year of the project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Nine undergraduate students from under-resourced groups participated in our program in 2022. That began with our Research Showcase where the students were able to hear about food animal-related research in our department, socialize with researchers whom could potentially be their research mentors and get their programmatic questions answered. Students enrolled in our Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course, where they learned about lab and farm safety, discussed research ethics and also participated in two 3-week lab rotations where they got to learn a little bit about potential summer research projects. After students were matched with research mentors, they conducted 12 weeks of food-animal related research from May through the end of July. At the end of the summer, each student created and presented a research poster.
Publications
|
Progress 03/15/21 to 03/14/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate students in the Animal Science major were contacted to apply to our summer research program. We advertised our program through our website, electronic bulletin boards in our building, at various student club meetings, and in courses having large populations of sophomores and juniors in our major. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The ASSURE students have had a chance to network with Animal Science faculty and select their lab rotations. Lab safety training will begin in early March. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The 10 ASSURE students will select their summer research labs and complete their projects over 12 weeks. On Fridays throughout the summer, professional development training will occur, along with industry networking, leadership development training, and oral communication skills training. Throughout the summer program the ASSURE scholars will be observed and data collected on their progress, and any changes in their career aspirations. ASSURE scholars as well as faculty researchers will be surveyed at the end of the first summer to identify areas that need improvement before the next ASSURE cycle begins in Fall 2022 where another 10 ASSURE students will be recruited to repeat lab rotations, a summer research experience, etc.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the Fall semester the ASSURE team created the ASSURE website with details about the program and housed the application form that we created. The application collected information about each student, including their classification, home address, socioeconomic information, career aspirations, and previous research experiences. Twenty-seven students applied for the ten available slots for the summer program. The ASSURE team reviewed each application and then met to discuss each applicant. Ten students and two alternates were selected. The selected ten students were contacted and all ten accepted our offer, however one student had to decline the invitation after further inquiry due to the fact that she was a student employee of the University and the funding from this grant could not go to an employee. Therefore the first alternate was contacted and added to the first year's program. In early February we hosted our Research Showcase, where Animal Science faculty willing to host a summer ASSURE student gave a 5-minute presentation about their lab and research focus and the ASSURE students had the opportunity to ask questions and talk with the researchers in an effort to identify which two labs each ASSURE student would do a 4-week lab rotation. All ten students have been placed into their two rotations, which will start on March 1st and end in late April. During those same eight weeks, the ASSURE students will complete the newly developed 2-credit hour Safety and Ethics in Animal Science course, taught by Dr. Nestor.
Publications
|
|