Applications for the 2025 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wallace-Carver Fellowship are closed. Stay tuned for the 2026 application date.
The USDA Wallace-Carver Fellowship offers college students the opportunity to collaborate with noted scientists and policymakers through paid fellowships at leading USDA research centers and offices across the United States. Initiated by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack in 2011, the USDA and the World Food Prize Foundation partnered to create the Wallace-Carver Fellowship to inspire the next generation of American scientific and humanitarian leaders.
Since then, the Foundation has placed nearly 300 Wallace-Carver Fellows with USDA agencies to build a pipeline of leaders in agricultural science and policy for careers in public service. Wallace-Carver Fellows have the opportunity to learn from a diverse array of key government officials and American thought leaders through leadership programming.
Named for Henry A. Wallace and George Washington Carver, two of the great American leaders in agricultural science and policy who made significant strides toward ending hunger in the 20th Century, the Wallace-Carver Fellowship seeks to educate, inspire and train the next generation of agricultural leaders, who will lead us in the 21st century.
Legacy of the USDA Wallace-Carver Fellowship
In the summer of 2024, 23 fellows worked with USDA research centers and field offices across the country to analyze agricultural and economic policy; assist in the management of food, nutrition and rural development programs; and take part in groundbreaking field and laboratory-based research.
Since the creation of the Fellowship, 275 students from 111 universities and colleges in 38 states and the District of Columbia have been employed by the program.
Over 97% of the Fellows have pursued degrees in related disciplines and 88% are employed in critical fields relevant to science, agriculture, nutrition, economics and policy.
“The Wallace-Carver Fellowship exposes the best young minds in agriculture to the wide variety of opportunities available to them through civil service. Their experiences as Fellows will prepare these exceptional young leaders to carry out the vital research and innovation we will need to address the challenge of feeding a growing global population.”
- Governor Thomas Vilsack, World Food Prize Foundation CEO
2023 Texas Youth Institute Delegate; 2023 Global Youth Institute Delegate; 2024 Wallace-Carver Fellow, Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States
"The Wallace-Carver Fellowship was an amazing opportunity that allowed me to explore and develop my own skills. It was an extremely valuable experience for my personal and academic development, as well as for my resume and networking opportunities." - Andrew Li
For more information, contact Renee Cooper at rcooper@worldfoodprize.org.