Feature
How A SURGE in Horticultural Awareness Can Motivate the Next Generation of Advocates for Agriculture
Student Engagement to Grow the Next Generation of Agriculturally-aware Professionals
By Dr. Sharon Jean-Philippe, Dr. Natalie Bumgarner, Edward “Bear” Moran, Rebecca Hughes, Alenna Fletcher, Spencer Wood, Gabriella King and Allison Padovani
1 TABLE 1. A selection of 14 vegetables or herbs were planted and grown by E-SURP students at UT Organic Farm and KBGA locations from June through August 2021. Crops and produce were used in outreach programs to Zucchini workshop attendees.
Trial & Plot #
18
Cultivar or Species
Crop Type
Color
1
‘Black Cherry'
Tomato
Black
2
‘Chocolate Beauty'
Bell Pepper
Brown
3
‘Big Bertha'
Bell Pepper
Red
4
‘Ruby’
Lettuce
Red
5
Butternut
Squash
Orange
6
Sweet Potato
Potato
Orange
7
Lemon Cucumber
Cucumber
Yellow
8
‘Patio Choice’ Yellow Determinate Cherry
Tomato
Yellow
9
Variegated Thyme
Herb
Yellow
10
Arugula
Lettuce
Green
11
‘8 Ball’
Zucchini
Green
12
‘Trail of Tears’
Pole Bean
Blue
13
Purple Sweet Potato
Potato
Purple
14
Purple Basil
Herb
Purple
tennessee greentimes SUMMER 2022
The Summer Undergraduate Research Group Experience (SURGE) is a new program offered by the University of Tennessee (UT) that is providing a novel way to introduce and engage undergraduate students to research opportunities at the college level. The Exploring Sustainable Urban to Rural Agriculture Practices (E-SURP) Initiative was funded by SURGE in fall 2019 for implementation in 2020. Due to COVID-19, the first teams were deferred until summer 2021. The purpose of the E-SURP initiative was to focus on small-scale food crop research and experiential learning opportunities for non-traditional agriculture students while integrating educational outreach for similar audiences. Essentially, this project was designed to engage and teach students currently underrepresented in agriculture in the process of educating members of the public who may well share their previous lack of agricultural knowledge and awareness. Through these linked research and outreach goals, students gain knowledge and experience that addresses key awareness gaps of their own in the areas of food production, forestry, and natural resource management while providing a platform for participants to educate others and assist agriculture and natural resources professionals in better understanding and connecting with new and underrepresented audiences. The goal for SURGE is simple: identify and invite undergraduate students who are unlikely to enter research to be introduced to undergraduate research during the summer (Photo 1), and to explore what research opportunities can look like. Many different UT faculty are advancing the SURGE mission and have partnered with the UT Leadership Excellence Achievement Diversity (LEAD) academic, inclusive initiative to provide an avenue for first-generation and minority students to participate in undergraduate research. Students participating in SURGE are paired with a team who together, are introduced to and fostered in the scientific method and principles of research for the duration of the program. Students also receive guidance and support from one or two faculty mentors. There are several projects that students may apply to and each team, composed of up to eight students, then sets out to investigate prominent questions in the disciplinary fields that reflect their respective projects.
A Novel Approach to Undergraduate Research Engagement Perhaps SURGE’s most defining quality is the unique way that the teams are composed. Not only are team members less likely to have entered undergraduate research on their own, but participants are purposefully chosen to build an interdisciplinary team. The diversity of not only students’ backgrounds, but also their chosen studies, makes room for tremendous creativity in solving research problems. In research, this creativity and diversity is invaluable. Once teams are established, the holistic approach means that each student has the power to be informative to the whole group. SURGE allows students to gain experience in working in groups to achieve a goal. The diverse and interdisciplinary nature of the teams further reflects contemporary academic and workplace environments setting the stage for how future problems are most likely to be approached to be solved effectively. SURGE offers students a way to explore research in a supportive, guided environment that grows participants’ ability to work as a contributing member in diverse, interdisciplinary, and group settings.
