Plant Sciences Institute

Department of Agronomy

Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding

Internship Program Home People In the News Research and Crops Facilities Students and Prospective Students Job Opportunities Links	Internship Program For 30 years, Dr. Walter Fehr has been conducting a program to introduce undergraduate students to the profession of plant breeding. Participants in this program, through hands-on experiences, learn the basics of plant breeding. By the end of the semester, they will have learned the genetics involved with plant breeding, most specifically, soybean breeding, worked in the field with plants bred for specific traits, learned methods for trait selection, and practiced techniques and procedures used by plant breeders. For their final project, each student designs a plant breeding program that includes a description of the specific trait selected for cultivar improvement and details the procedures for developing the cultivar. This year, seven students were accepted into the internship program. Each student has completed classes in agronomy and has experience working with plants in various industries. In addition to classroom work, students spend several hours each week working with field technicians on soybean plots located at ISU research farms. More	Students in the internship program visited a local grocery store to learn about products made from soybeans that are commonly available to consumers. Here students sample ice cream made from soybeans.
		Dr. Walter Fehr introduces students to new labeling features mandated by federal law. Beginning in 2006, labels must clearly list the amount of trans-fat in processed foods. Dr. Fehr has developed soybeans that can help consumers eliminate trans-fats from their diets.