Introduction
This summer, we hosted eight undergraduate students from all over the country for our first year of Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU). This program is funded under the USDA-NIFA’s Education and Workforce Development initiative. The purpose of the program is to train undergraduate students in research and extension. We will be training 35 students over the course of 4 years (2019 to 2022).
Each student had an assigned mentor in either plant pathology, entomology, or agronomy departments. In addition to working with their mentors on their research or extension projects, the students also participated in professional development seminars, field trips, and FACT workshops. FACT stands for Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics Tools. Our goal was to introduce students to a wide variety of topics related to modern plant health research; so that, they have enough data in hand to make a decision about what they would like to pursue for further studies.
Based on the results of student surveys, the program was able to meet its goals. The success of the program is reflected in the level of skills that students gained over the short 9-week period. See below for some of the areas where students improved their knowledge and skills. These are a few examples of questions that we asked students in an anonymous survey.
- How much did you gain in the following areas as a result of your research/extension experience in past nine weeks?
Scale: 1 = No gain, 2 = A little gain, 3 = Moderate gain, 4 = Good gain, 5 = Great gain
All students had a moderate to great gain in understanding of everyday researh work, confidence to contribute to science, and conducting scientific observations.
- During your research/extension experience, how much did you?
Scale: 1 = None, 2 = A little, 3 = Some, 4 = A fair amount, 5 = A great deal
Majority of students felt like a scientist and were engaged in real-world science research.