Grad students seek UCCE mentors, projects

Applications are now being accepted for the 2015-2016 academic year Graduate Students working in Extension (GSE) program. This program is geared for CE personnel and graduate students who are interested in working collaboratively and for CE academics to mentor a graduate student on a project. Mentors contribute only 25 percent of the funds for graduate student support. Applications are due on March 6 and students are starting to work on them. Now is a good time to get involved.

The original group of GSE graduate students are working to facilitate the next group by helping to connect students to potential mentors. There are several ways to get involved. On Feb. 5, there will be a Cooperative Extension Showcase at UCB. It features talks by CE specialists, advisors and program staff, but also, this year, includes sections for people with project ideas to give a short talk for interested graduate students. The event will be followed by a mixer to further facilitate networking among academics and graduate students.

If you would like to attend the Showcase or if you cannot make the Showcase and have a project idea, please email Kevi Mace at kmace@berkeley.edu.

Background: Recognizing that there is no formal program currently devoted to educating and training students interested in Cooperative Extension work, ANR launched this three-year pilot program in 2014 to train and recruit graduate students for careers in extension research and outreach. The program is designed for graduate students and Cooperative Extension academics to work collaboratively on projects that are relevant for all involved.

In order to apply, students need to develop a mentorship team including their academic advisor and at least one CE academic or advisor. The funding structure is 50 percent from ANR, 25 percent from the students' home department and 25 percent from the mentorship team. The positions are known as Graduate Student working in Extension (GSE), or Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) in Extension.

The first set of graduate students received funding during the 2014-2015 academic year. These students developed their projects with their mentorship teams and have been achieving exciting results in both research and extension. Their projects are listed at http://ucanr.edu/sites/GGCE/Current_Graduate_Student_Researchers. You can find updates on their research and extension efforts at http://ucanr.edu/sites/GGCE/Research_Updates.

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