Applications are due November 10, 2025. Selected students will receive an acceptance letter by December 31st. The program will commence in January 2026. This is an approximately 20-week, paid, undergraduate research program funded by USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Each student will be paired with a faculty member/research program, and will work in groups of three student members. Students are expected to work an average of 10 hours per week.
In the first two weeks, students will get acquainted with each-other and with faculty leaders, via a series of meetings. During this time, students will also be required to attend three asynchronous lectures prepared by the faculty and complete activities showing mastery of the materials.
Lecture 1: Introduction to Academic Research: This lecture will cover topics such as academic honesty, the research process, data utilization, safe data storage, data analysis software and related resources, library resources, Google Scholar, academic writing and related resources.
Lecture 2: Introduction to Extension: This lecture will cover topics including the importance of stakeholder needs assessment, the relationship between academic research and extension and outreach activities, and designing effective extension programming.
Lecture 3: Introduction to the AAEA Student Competitions and Conference. This lecture will introduce students to the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association summer conference, describe the requirement to attend this conference, describe the student competitions, expectations for participation, related deadlines, travel arrangements, and related topics.
Throughout the program, students will work with their faculty advisors to carry out the research and extension projects. Research activities may include but are not limited to background literature review, data collection, data analysis utilizing software such as Excel and Stata, hypotheses testing using appropriate econometric/statistical techniques, writing the results in a research paper format, preparing presentations for the AAEA conference. Extension activities may include but are not limited to the above research activities plus writing stakeholder-centered publication (e.g., blogs or fact sheets), developing Excel tools for stakeholder use, and delivering presentations to stakeholders about the project.
Concurrent with the research and extension program, this project includes mentorship opportunities for students. Each individual student will be mentored by one of the faculty members, and by one external mentor in a group setting. The goal of the mentorship component is to provide students with information, guidance, and feedback on their graduate school applications, job applications, and more generally, career options and career choices.
Students are recommended to attend the AAEA meeting in July, 2026, in Kansas City, MO. All expenses for the attendance are reimbursed by the project.
