The USDA Scholars Program: Innovations in a Summer Undergraduate Research Program.

The USDA Scholars Program is an innovative summer undergraduate research program at Virginia Tech. funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), that integrates undergraduate research with peer mentoring, grantsmanship, a specialized summer course and a summer multi-institutional symposium. The results of a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the USDA Scholars Program, which consisted of 42 undergraduates over a 5-year period from 2007-2011, are presented. Students participating in the program were co-authors on eight peer-reviewed publications and three additional articles in preparation, as well as 17 posters at national and international scientific meetings. USDA Scholars self-assessed themselves with a 65-68% gain in perceived confidence in research ability and in one of the assessed years, a slight, but significant increase in perceived public speaking ability. Seventy-five percent of USDA Scholars continued research in the following academic year and the department hosting the program showed a significant increase in the total number of students (including non-Scholars) engaged in undergraduate research. Overall, the USDA Scholars Program can serve as a model for other departments interested in designing a comprehensive summer undergraduate research program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]