Peak Undergraduate Research Mentors of the Year

This award was inaugurated in 2003 and endowed by David and Terry Peak to recognize outstanding faculty as mentors of undergraduate researchers.

Faculty who mentor undergraduate researchers are characterized as counselors and guides who encourage, instruct, and advocate. A good faculty mentor provides a role model for methods of inquiry in a field of study and for the responsible conduct of research.

Good mentors often provide students with their first entry into professional circles and support the dissemination of the student’s work as through professional conference participation or publication.

Past Recipients

Nomination Procedures

Nomination Form

2025 Winner

Katie Kraus

College of Agriculture & Applied Sciences | Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences

Katie Kraus is a long-time proponent of undergraduate research. As an undergraduate student at USU she was an undergraduate research fellow, and was awarded the CAAS Undergraduate Researcher of the Year in 2006. Through her own experience, she learned firsthand the positive impact that undergraduate research can have on a student’s education and trajectory. As such, mentoring students in research has been her passion and priority. She regularly mentors undergraduate researchers, both within the courses she teaches, as well as in their independent research projects. She values giving students the experience conducting a research project from start to finish, including publication in a peer-reviewed journal. She has mentored 89 undergraduate students in research (including 51 in the past three years), and has supported them in presenting posters at USU and professional conferences. Katie’s teaching has been recognized regionally and nationally by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture.