July 21, 2020
College of Agriculture hosts Summer Research Fellowship
Creative solutions were developed to allow the College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension to continue the annual Summer Research Fellowship, an eight-week program designed to better prepare minority undergraduate students from land-grant colleges and universities for graduate or professional school.
In previous years, participants lived on campus, worked in college labs with faculty and attended lectures on campus. This year, the entire program is being conducted online, with faculty mentors guiding the students' research and with lectures conducted through Zoom or Teams. The students are also learning how to present through video and social media to showcase their work to a broad audience. Faculty mentors include Dorivar Ruiz Diaz and Anita Dille, agronomy; Alison Crane and Jennifer Bormann, animal sciences and industry; Chad Paulk and Greg Aldrich, grain science and industry; Jeremy Marshall, entomology; and Sara Gragg, Food Science Institute.
"This year, the College of Agriculture is making history at K-State by hosting the first virtual summer research program," said Zelia Wiley, assistant dean and director of the college diversity programs. "This wasn't a program we were willing to cancel even though face-to-face instruction wasn't an option. In the past, it's been very successful in helping students prepare and be admitted into graduate school. I'm proud of how so many of our college faculty and administrators came together quickly to find new ways to make this a great experience for the participants."
According to Wiley, of the 57 students who attended the fellowship program and graduated from a historically Black college or university or 1890 land-grant college or university, 54 completed the program. Of those, 13 applied to a K-State College of Agriculture graduate program and 10 were accepted and graduated from the college.
This year's fellows are Terrell Hills, Southern University Agricultural and Mechanical College; Miya McAntire, Clarke University; Evan Buckner, University of Arkansas–Fayetteville; Daria Clinkscales, Virginia State University; Kamaya Brantley, University of Georgia; Karsyn McCain, North Carolina A&T State University; Alyssa Perry, Prairie View A&M University; and Jazmine Whitaker, Tuskegee University.