Ninth Jordan College Honors Research Cohort 

Since its start in the fall of 2015, the Jordan College Honors Program provides an unmatched opportunity for advanced interdisciplinary study and engagement by Fresno State agricultural students. 

Each fall, a class of approximately 10 junior students are selected to work closely with a faculty mentor on a research or scholarly project to completed by the end of their senior year. 

The program consists of a three-semester commitment and an additional nine units of classes, beginning with a 3- unit honors seminar taken in the second semester of junior year.

This is followed by a 3-unit independent study with a faculty mentor to work on a research project in the first semester of senior year. A 3-unit honors colloquium in the second semester of their senior year serves as a culminating experience where they make a public presentation of their research or scholarly project. 

Below are the impressive student projects for the ninth cohort that was selected in the fall of 2022 (and on course to graduate in the spring of 2024).

 

Jasmin Joy Andrada (Mentor: Dr. Serhat Asci): An analysis of produce consumption in Fresno County.

Madelyn Fernandes (Mentor: Dr. Sharon Freeman): Evaluation of barriers to student involvement in SAE Projects as identified by high school agricultural teachers.

Ivana Gonzalez-Esparza (Mentor: Dr. Samuel Rodriguez): How self-determination impacts the ability of pre-service and practicing Hispanic females to navigate their agriculture teaching career.

Daniel Hidalgo (Mentor: Dr. Erin Stafford Dormedy): Evaluation of textural properties of high protein ice cream.

Lillian Kier (Mentor: Dr. Todd Lone): Financial feasibility of growing guayule, a salt and drought-tolerant crop that produces natural latex and resin, on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Reyna Mero (Mentor: Dr. Katy Tarrant): Assessing activity of broilers in a commercial house using laser enrichmments.

Miguel Perez Esparza (Mentor: Dr. Annette Levi): Perceptions of agricultural field workers and their experiences regarding employers and the workplace.

Alberto Ramirez (Mentor: Dr. Cliff Yu): Investigating the effects of cover crops installation on canopy microclimate in Central Coast winegrape vineyards.

Savannah Salters (Mentor: Dr. Fabio Iared): Factors affecting equine in vitro embryo production in a commercial OPU / ICSI program.

Ivan Trujillo (Mentor: Dr. Sharon Freeman): JCAST student soft skills assessment.

 

More information on the program