The Summer Opportunities in Agricultural and the Environment (SOARE) is a partnership between the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR), The Big Ten Alliance Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), and The UMD Graduate School. SOARE is a gateway to graduate education. The program aims to increase the number of underrepresented students pursuing graduate study and research careers in agricultural, environmental, nutrition and food science, and natural resource areas of study. SOARE provides underrepresented undergraduate students with on-campus research experience to establish important relationships with faculty in their respective fields of study and to conduct graduate-level research under the supervision of a renowned AGNR faculty member.  Our new summer research program, SOARE: Strategic Work in Applied Geosciences (SWAG), is geared towards undergraduates with interest in geology (i.e., mineralogy, geomorphology, petrology), earth science (i.e., geology plus chemistry, physics computations, environmental science, geography, hydrology/marine science, atmospheric science), natural resources management and soil science.

Students participating in the SOARE and SOARE: SWAG will spend ten weeks at UMD working closely with AGNR faculty members as part of their research teams. Students are expected to spend about forty hours per week working with their research teams and to be contributing members. Participants will attend weekly seminars to learn more about the graduate school experience, the graduate school application process as well as social activities during their stay.  At the end of the ten weeks, students will have produced tangible results from experimental research and will report the results in a special research forum. Participants will also become acquainted with the culture of graduate school and learn what is needed and expected of them as graduate students in their respective disciplines.

• Be enrolled full-time at an accredited two-year or four-year institution of higher education
• Have sophomore or junior status at the time of application
• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
• Have an undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale
• Major in agricultural, environmental, natural resources, food science, nutritional science, geology, geography, or related STEM field
• Have a career goal that includes graduate-level education (not professional school e.g. veterinary, dental or medical school)
• Demonstrate an interest in pursuing graduate study (not professional schools) in agricultural, environmental, natural resources, food science, nutritional science, geoscience,  or related STEM field
• Have a STEM background and have completed one of each: chemistry, biology, and calculus course
• Be enrolled in at least one semester of undergraduate study upon completion of the SOARE.
• Be available for the entire period of the program.
• Any applicant needing any academic, housing or other accommodations must notify program directors within 24 hours of accepting their offer of admission. To receive any requested and documented accommodation, students must petition Accessibility and Disability Services at https://counseling.umd.edu/ads.