THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A FLEXIBLE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM ON AGRICULTURAL MICROBIOLOGY (MICROBIOMES OF PLANT SYSTEMS). EACH STUDENT WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM FOR A TOTAL OF 20 WEEKS DURING TWO CONSECUTIVE SUMMERS. IN THEIR FIRST YEAR, STUDENTS WILL WORK WITH ON-CAMPUS SDSU FACULTY MENTORS AND DEVELOP AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PROJECT ON PLANT MICROBIOMES FOR TEN WEEKS AND WILL GAIN SKILLS IN AGRICULTURAL MICROBIOLOGY, INCLUDING LABORATORY, FIELD/GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENTS, DATA ANALYSIS AND BIOINFORMATICS, AND ORAL AND WRITTEN PRESENTATION. AT THE END OF THEIR FIRST PROGRAM YEAR, THE STUDENTS WILL CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS FOR THE SECOND YEAR:1-RESEARCH PATHWAY WITH FACULTY MENTORS ON CAMPUS. THIS PATH WILL HELP THEM TO FURTHER DEVELOP THEIR RESEARCH SKILLS AND PUT THEM ON TRACK TO BE A SUCCESSFUL GRADUATE STUDENT AIMING TO COMPLETE A PH.D. IN THE PLANT SCIENCES.2-EXTENSION PATHWAY. STUDENTS OF THIS PATH WILL WORK WITH SDSU EXTENSION AGRONOMISTS, WHILE COLLECTING SOIL SAMPLESFROM COLLABORATING FARMERS TO DEVELOP A SOIL MICROBIOME MAP OF SOUTH DAKOTA. STUDENTS WILL ALSO BE INTEGRATED INTO THE SDSU PLANT SCIENCE EXTENSION PROGRAMS; AND3-INDUSTRY PATHWAY. STUDENTS IN THIS PATH WILL BE PAIRED IN THEIR SECOND YEAR WITH COLLABORATING INDUSTRY PARTNERS. FACULTY MENTORS OF THE PROGRAM HAVE ACTIVE ONGOING COLLABORATIONS WITH INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS, INCLUDING RECENT START-UP COMPANIES IN THE MICROBIAL FERTILIZER AND PESTICIDE MARKET, AND STUDENTS WILL WORK AS INTERNS FOR THE COMPANIES.