2001 AACC Annual Meeting Charlotte, North Carolina October 14-18, 2001 Charlotte Convention Center

The student internship program at Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is based on three basic needs: train students to enter into permanent positions at the end of internships, to fulfill research needs, and bring diversity into ARS. There are two main ways of achieving this goal. A student is hired under Student Temporary Employment Program or under Student Career Experience Program. These programs are sometimes generically called "grow your own" programs. They are usually not advertised and the scientist or a manager has the freedom to select an acceptable candidate when they find one. There is a continuous availability of these positions and students have to know what they want to do and where they want to intern. They usually attract students from local universities. There are specialized variations of these two programs which allow students from high school to colleges/universities to enter ARS. A full breakdown of various programs and examples of scientist and support staff who made successful transition into ARS are presented. ARS also has a very successful Post-Doctoral Research Associate Program. The positions are nationally advertised and the program helps ARS to attract recent graduates from Ph. D. programs. Based on position availability and the post-doctoral candidates' performance reviews, they could be permanently employed with ARS. Managers are highly encouraged to hire people as Post-Docs. Some examples of successful candidates are presented. A preliminary survey found that at least 13% of the staff at the Southern Regional Research Center first came to ARS as students or Post-Docs and stayed on or came back.