By Timothy R. Olsen ’09, M.B.A. ’18

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On February 4, 1975, Utah State president Glen L. Taggart addressed a letter to the undergraduate student body announcing a bold new initiative: Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities. 

URCO for short, the program was the result of a challenge from Taggart to a team of faculty and administrators the previous summer. In his letter, Taggart said the team “came back with a plan to encourage, enlarge, and systemize collaboration between faculty and undergraduates.” 

Now, 50 years later, Utah State boasts the second-oldest undergraduate research program in the country and the URCO program funds dozens of research projects each year. With original goals such as fostering mentor relationships, providing opportunities for real-world, hands-on learning, and developing new research and funding, the program has been an unmitigated success. 

“Even the way they named the program right out of the gate gives you a sense that they weren’t thinking about just lab coats and safety goggles,” explains Dr. Alexa Sand, Associate Vice President for Research at USU. “They were thinking bigger than that and thinking of research in the broadest sense.”

Over the years, URCO has grown into a cornerstone of USU’s research culture. Supported by a combination of university resources, college contributions, and external partnerships, the program funds between 60 and 75 projects annually. On a broader scale, Sand estimates that roughly 30% of USU undergraduates participate in some kind of “pure research experience,” with even more partaking in community work or other extra-curriculars with a research component. 

“A lot more faculty, especially as we see the faculty shifting younger, are using research-based teaching methods,” Sands says. “I feel like that’s just a part of the culture here. We really, really care about giving our students a meaningful educational experience.”

Researching for Real-World Change

Though both of Sky Johns’ parents graduated from Utah State, it wasn’t the deciding factor for the December 2024 graduate when it came it making her college choice. With an eye toward medical school, the Rigby, Idaho, native chose the Aggies because of the abundant research opportunities available at USU.

For Johns, who majored in sociology and minored in chemistry, those opportunities began right away as she was accepted to the university’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship program her first semester. The program provides research opportunities and scholarship funds, as well as different seminars and the chance to learn about other research programs.

“For me, I started college being very timid and shy. I’ve always loved school, but I didn’t feel like I could contribute in some of those science classes you take to apply to medical school because I didn’t feel like I was smart enough,” Johns recalls. “But as I researched, I learned that I did know things and my ideas did matter and that I could learn.”

As her confidence and experience grew, Johns volunteered with USU’s Student Nutrition Access Center, or SNAC, which aligned with her passion for promoting food security in communities. Her involvement there opened her eyes to the number of college students that don’t know where their next meal is coming from (nearly 30% according to a 2020 Hope Center study) and she knew she wanted to explore that topic academically.

Specifically, she was interested in how food insecurity impacts other areas of people’s lives, along with weight discrimination and stigmatization. Hoping to gain a deeper understanding of the issue, she applied for an URCO grant — with help from a faculty mentor, Gabriele Ciciurkaite, an associate professor of sociology. Her proposal was initially rejected, but after some tweaking, was accepted the next time around.

“My biggest piece of advice for anyone wanting to do an URCO grant, is to find a great mentor,” Johns exhorts. “I only could work part time because of all my classes and all these other things I’m doing. So, to be able to receive monetary support for the time and energy I was putting into the project just took a load off and really encouraged me to spend time researching.”

Johns’ research culminated in findings that highlighted significant gender disparities in experiences of weight discrimination and food insecurity. She was then able to share those findings on a national stage, including at Utah’s Research on Capitol Hill event.

“Talking with the legislators and other political leaders about the problems that face their community was so impactful for me, because I got to see how my research was going to make a difference,” Johns says. “You don’t always see how it changes people’s lives, but at that conference I got a little taste of that, which was really special for me.”

Building Blocks for Success

One night Paul Consalvo awoke in a cold sweat — he had an epiphany. 

He’d been researching an instrument called a tensiometer, basically a device that measures how much plants are pulling water through the soil, while working at USU’s Student Organic Farm during the summer. Suddenly, he was awakened by the thought that he might be able to use predictive models to forecast when plants will undergo stress. 

A civil engineering major with a minor in computer science, Consalvo teamed up with Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua as his mentor to secure an URCO grant where he attempted to use machine learning and remote sensing equipment, in conjunction with tensiometers, to detect and predict areas impacted by drought.

Ultimately, the predictive models didn’t come out in a way that Consalvo was statistically happy with, but it did lead him down a different path that involved using the Google Earth engine and satellite images to detect where drought is impacting farmland. Basically, he was able to use the pixels within the satellite raster images to extract infrared color bands, denoting areas experiencing drought. 

“I was able to come to a conclusion that it wasn’t accurately providing a measurement of drought conditions that we might think it does, so I didn’t have the success in my initial question that I thought I would,” he says. “But in playing around with the methods used to pursue that question, I ended up finding something else that I thought was very valuable.” 

Along with his URCO project, Consalvo participated in several research projects during his time at USU, and, like Johns, presented his work during USU’s Research on Capitol Hill. He says the freedom to pursue different opportunities — along with the leeway to fail, learn, and pivot — was essential in his growth as a student and civil engineer. 

Today, Consalvo works in Boise, Idaho, as an engineering project consultant, dealing mostly with roadway construction analysis. He credits his undergraduate research experiences, particularly the problem-solving skills and resilience he developed for preparing him for the complexities of his career.

“I would say that undergraduate research is almost like a hidden gem of things you can pursue in college, specifically at Utah State,” he says. “You can get experience doing what the master’s and the Ph.D. students do and figure out if academia is the path you want to go on. It allows you to be creative in ways that you won’t get once you’re out in the industrial world.”

A Lasting Impact

As USU celebrates 50 years of undergraduate research in 2025, stories like those of Johns — who was recently accepted to Rocky Vista University in Colorado — and Consalvo are just brief glimpses into the enduring impact of the URCO program and undergraduate research in general. 

For them and thousands of others, undergraduate research has been more than an academic opportunity — it’s been a springboard to discovering their potential and making meaningful contributions to their communities and beyond.

“I think a huge thing that our students find when they get involved in research is the sort of confidence and sense of purpose and recognition that they’re able to contribute in really meaningful ways,” says Athena Dupont, USU’s senior program coordinator for student research. “They’re a part of this community working towards something bigger than themselves.”