What has six legs and offers endless possibilities?

 

That’s what the US Department of Agriculture wants to know. The USDA awarded a grant to the University of California, Riverside’s Entomology Department for “agriculturally relevant research.” The research involves students from UCR, and Moreno Valley, Norco and Riverside City colleges. The students have been working to study Pogonomyrmex rugosus ants’ behavior, using environmental clues. Preliminary data from fully randomized experiments show that ants can learn to associate smells with a sugar reward and pass that information to nestmates. The research was presented at the Honors Conference at the University of California, Irvine in March 2023.

 

A component of the project is to make university-bound students aware of career opportunities in the agricultural sciences. The USDA hopes it can establish a training pipeline to educate K-12 and community college students about agricultural science careers; provide research and internship experiences for motivated students; and identify tactics to enhance education by providing hands-on research experience and linking learning with associated career tracks. Interested students receive in-depth training in entomological fields to hone skillsets required for careers in agricultural sciences. The program ultimately hopes to attract thousands of K-12 students through outreach and hundreds of community college students through curriculum enhancement.