Undergraduate Research Opportunities
The year 2025 marks 50 years of undergraduate research at Utah State University! In honor of this milestone, faculty members in the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources are sharing their research to inspire YOU to explore some of the many opportunities available. Whether you are just starting at Utah State or nearing graduation, it is always a good time to consider learning about and getting involved in the research opportunities around you.
This PDF guide highlights some of the exciting research happening within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Refer to the boxes below each faculty member’s name to see if they are actively seeking undergraduate researchers or simply sharing their work to promote awareness and understanding of the diverse projects at Utah State. Dive in and discover where your interests might take you!
Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences
Open to QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Open to non-QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Description of Current Research
The Gowen laboratory studies arenaviral and bunyaviral hemorrhagic fever viruses and the development of countermeasures to prevent and treat the diseases they cause. The viruses studied include various New World arenaviruses (Junin, Pichinde, Tacaribe), the Old World LCM arenavirus, and several bunyaviruses (Rift Valley fever, Heartland, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, Oropouche, La Crosse, and multiple hantaviruses).
Possible roles an undergraduate could play in this research and any qualifications students need to assist with this research.
A student could participate in various assay development projects to support our antiviral drug and vaccine development efforts. Such assays would help determine efficacy or assess the impact of viral infection and/or treatments on the host immune response or factors. The students should be interested in and have a basic understanding of biology/cell biology. Basic lab safety and biosafety training would be required.
Biggest recommendation/advice to undergraduate students trying to get involved in research.
Take the time to explore the work being performed by a faculty member conducting research in your general area of interest by reviewing abstracts from recently published work to facilitate discussion with the faculty member.
Open to QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Open to non-QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Description of Current Research
My research encompasses dairy cattle nutrition, emphasizing biochemical pathways that influence energy metabolism and efficiency in dairy cows. My lab will include applied research directly interacting with dairy cows and basic research in a more traditional laboratory setting. Part of this work is also connected to the automatic milking system used at the Caine Dairy and optimizing its use with dairy cattle.
There are some opportunities to work on developing models for various biochemical pathways.
Possible roles an undergraduate could play in this research and any qualifications students need to assist with this research.
Roles for undergraduate research would include sampling from dairy cows (blood, urine, feces), sampling different feeds and diets fed, preparing feed samples for nutrient analysis, performing analysis on plasma and serum samples for various metabolites, and potentially extracting DNA/RNA and preparing samples PCR. No prior experience is necessary, but students must be comfortable working with large animals (>1200 lbs).
Biggest recommendation/advice to undergraduate students trying to get involved in research.
The worst a professor or researcher can tell you is "no,” so it never hurts to ask when looking for a position. Also, it is okay to make mistakes during research but not to hide those mistakes.
What majors outside of those in your department could also benefit from involvement in this research?
- Biology
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Veterinary Clinical and Life Sciences
Open to QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Open to non-QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Description of Current Research
As a molecular virologist, the research in my laboratory focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of viral replication and pathogenesis, a crucial step toward developing new antiviral therapeutic and preventive strategies against two plus-strand RNA viruses that are important for human/animal health: Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV, a flavivirus) and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV, an arterivirus). Although the two viruses are clinically important, the basis of their replication and pathogenesis remains largely unknown, mainly because these viruses contain a genome consisting of a single-strand, positive-sense RNA molecule that cannot be manipulated directly in vitro for functional studies of viral RNA sequences and gene products. During the past >20 years, the research in my laboratory has made several major contributions to this field. One of the most significant accomplishments is the construction of full-length infectious cDNA molecular clones for each of these two RNA viruses that serve as a template for the genetic manipulation of the viral genome, allowing the production of molecularly defined mutant recombinant viruses for biological studies. By using our new infectious cDNA technology, combined with innovative molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemical techniques, our research will answer key questions about the viral life cycle and cellular and host responses to viral infections, enabling us to discover a novel molecular target(s) for the development of antivirals and vaccines against JEV and PRRSV, as well as their closely related other pathogenic flaviviruses and arteriviruses.
Possible roles an undergraduate could play in this research and any qualifications students need to assist with this research.
A student can participate in an ongoing project aimed at characterizing newly identified viral and host factors involved in the replication and pathogenesis of two clinically important viruses: Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). The student is expected to have a career goal in biomedical research.
Biggest recommendation/advice to undergraduate students trying to get involved in research.
An undergraduate student who wants to get involved with this specific research should have an interest in research and a career goal in biomedical research.
What majors outside of those in your department could also benefit from involvement in this research?
- Biology
- Biochemistry
- Bioengineering
- Any Biology-Related Field
Open to QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Open to non-QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Description of Current Research
I research the nutrition and growth of livestock animals.
Possible roles an undergraduate could play in this research and any qualifications students need to assist with this research.
Undergraduate researchers can be minimally involved if they want (getting a feel for research, watching, helping graduate students, running a few simple assays), or they can be as involved (completing their own research project) as their time and desire allows.
Biggest recommendation/advice to undergraduate students trying to get involved in research.
Don't be afraid to schedule time to meet with researchers/faculty members - we are not as scary as we seem.
What majors outside of those in your department could also benefit from involvement in this research?
If you are interested, I am not opposed to working with undergraduates from any major!
Open to QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Open to non-QANR Honors students' involvement in research
Description of Current Research
The Gowen laboratory studies arenaviral and bunyaviral hemorrhagic fever viruses and the development of countermeasures to prevent and treat the diseases they cause. The viruses studied include various New World arenaviruses (Junin, Pichinde, Tacaribe), the Old World LCM arenavirus, and several bunyaviruses (Rift Valley fever, Heartland, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, Oropouche, La Crosse, and multiple hantaviruses).
Possible roles an undergraduate could play in this research and any qualifications students need to assist with this research.
A student could participate in various assay development projects to support our antiviral drug and vaccine development efforts. Such assays would help determine efficacy or assess the impact of viral infection and/or treatments on the host immune response or factors. The students should be interested in and have a basic understanding of biology/cell biology. Basic lab safety and biosafety training would be required.
Biggest recommendation/advice to undergraduate students trying to get involved in research.
Take the time to explore the work being performed by a faculty member conducting research in your general area of interest by reviewing abstracts from recently published work to facilitate discussion with the faculty member.
Applied Economics
Applied Sciences, Technology, and Education
Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science
Plants, Soils, and Climate
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