ASSURED - Agricultural Science Summer Undergraduate Research Education & Development Project

New Mexico State University, Las Cruces NM

Investigators

Abstract

The Agricultural Science Summer Undergraduate Research Education and Development (ASSURED) Program will be held at New Mexico State University's (NMSU) Chile Pepper Institute during an eight-week period throughout each summer. The Chile Pepper Institute (CPI), which is housed in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture in NMSU's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, is directly connected with both the College's capsicum teaching and research programs, and includes over twenty-five faculty and thirty graduate students. To compliment the research-rich collaborative atmosphere of this program, a handful of minority education programs across campus and across local communities are committed to assisting the ASSURED program with student recruitment, instructional support, curricula development, weekend events, parental involvement, and program follow-up. Ten students per year will experience laboratory research and ownership of research projects, ethical conduct in the research environment, development of defensible scientific methods, presentation and poster development of research results, peer-mentor interactions with international and national graduate students, collaborations with faculty, exposure to research careers, college and career skill development. Educators nationwide are concerned that ethnic and language minorities and female students are not being served adequately by existing science education programs. NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute is concerned that for many migrant farm children who are 'settling in' to border communities, very few know about the existence of, or access to, career opportunities in agricultural sciences beyond field work. The program's goal is to work with underrepresented first generation college students from immigrant farm labor families to expand their appreciation of agricultural science in a university, research-rich context. This two year pilot program is being designed in concert with an NMSU institution-wide commitment to increase minority participation in higher education. Targeting this audience provides academic and economic alternatives and pathways toward the future stability and well-being of migrant families. The ASSURED Program REU will have two additional features: 1) Provide students with an opportunity in learning while getting compensated. 2) Provide students with campus housing and compensation for meals. For more information contact Dr. Paul Bosland or Ms. Danise Coon at the Chile Pepper Institute, (505)646-3028, hotchile@nmsu.edu, or Box 30003 MSC 3Q, Las Cruces, NM 88003.