The goal of the program is to assist the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to reach out to communities, schools (grades K thru12) and undergraduate students. There are over 80 USDA/ARS research laboratories nationwide and they want to make themselves accessible as educational outreach resources for teachers.
One component of the program is to invite teachers to attend two-day summer institutes held at their local USDA/ARS laboratory or research center to become directly involved in that research. The teachers can then engage their students in that research. This site shows what research is taking place locally with laboratory contact information, click here.
A special focus of the program is the study of an agricultural pest, the corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) by teachers and their students. To learn about the corn earworm specifically, click on LESSON 1 , then at the bottom of the page CLICK on LESSON PLAN, and then click on each of those links.
PROCEDURES
If you are a teacher interested in the program or if you have questions, please contact Dr. Craig Wilson at: cwilson@science.tamu.edu