The National Academies will conduct a study, including a major two-day summit of educators, employers, and others, to explore opportunities for institutions of higher education to improve the learning experience of undergraduate students pursuing careers at the intersection of agriculture, environmental and life sciences, and their related disciplines. The summit will examine innovations in teaching, learning, and the curriculum that are adaptive to differences in student backgrounds, attitudes, and expectations, and that better equip graduates with knowledge and skills appropriate for multiple career paths and demands. Following the summit, a committee of the National Academies will prepare a report that identifies opportunities to effect change in undergraduate programs that will enable those programs to produce a flexible, well-prepared workforce that is appropriately skilled, socially responsive, and technically proficient.The summit will be held on October 3-5, 2006 at the National Academy of Sciences Building at 2101 C Street, NW in Washington, DC. For additional information about the summit, please see http://dels.nas.edu/banr/summit/.The project is sponsored by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, the Farm Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, National Science Foundation (Division of Undergraduate Education), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education,and Extension Service. The approximate start date for the project is August 1, 2005. A report will be issued at the end of the project in approximately 24 months.Update 1-29-08: The completion date was extended due to funding delays. The report is now expected to be issued in June 2008.Update 7-1-08: The project duration has been further extended and the report will be issued in fall 2008.Update 1-7-09: The report is expected to be issued by early March 2009.Please note that the name of member Karen G. Swisher has changed to Karen G. Comeau.