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 Traditional statistics degree programs typically do not provide
a background in agriculture or plant science, leading to steep
learning curves for new hires in digital agriculture companies.
A new undergraduate fellowship at the University of Illinois,
funded by the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative,
fills the gap with an immersive training program in agriculture
and statistics.
“Every discipline is becoming more data-driven, agriculture
included. Even though statisticians are being integrated into
these multidisciplinary teams, they often do not have hands-on
experience in the lab, greenhouse, or field, and yet they’re
being asked to design experiments and analyze data derived from
these settings.
We wanted to give our students an advantage,” says Carrie Butts-Wilmsmeyer,
program director and research assistant professor in the
Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural,
Consumer and Environmental Sciences at U of I.
All crop science majors are eligible to receive the
expenses-paid statistics fellowship, including juniors in the
new combined computer science + crop sciences major, which is
offered in conjunction with the Department of Computer Science
at Illinois.
The fellowship is also open to incoming juniors at Illinois
State University and Northeastern Illinois University, and
entering transfer students from Parkland College. By offering
the fellowship across these diverse institutions, Butts-Wilmsmeyer
and other program leaders – Martin Bohn, Maria Villamil, and
Alex Lipka – hope to attract underrepresented students into the
agricultural sciences.
The two-year fellowship will include
student-directed hands-on experimental design, data collection,
and statistical analysis experience under the mentorship of
faculty advisors specializing in statistics.
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Program leaders hope to provide a pipeline into
graduate school by offering graduate school counseling and covering
fellows’ costs for graduate school entrance exams, as well as
professional conferences. The program also offers a stipend of
$14,500 for each fellow over two years.
“Agriculture is rapidly becoming a data-driven enterprise. We must
immerse our agricultural scientists and educators of the future in
both data sciences and agricultural sciences, with the skills and
abilities to work seamlessly across those fields. That’s why
Illinois is investing in digital agriculture,” said Germán Bollero,
associate dean for research in the College of Agricultural, Consumer
and Environmental Sciences.
In a statement announcing the USDA funding for this program, U.S.
Representative Rodney Davis, congressman for Illinois’ 13th District
said, “Ensuring we have the research and workforce necessary to
further agriculture successes is not just important for Illinois,
but for our national economy. We need to fill these gaps in our
workforce and the College of ACES at the University of Illinois is
one of the best programs in the nation to help us do that. I’m proud
to be a strong supporter of this program and ag research.”
To learn more about the fellowship, contact Carrie Butts-Wilmsmeyer
at 217-300-7560 or cjbutts2@illinois.edu.
[Source: Carrie Butts-Wilmsmeyer,
News writer: Lauren Quinn]
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