Juan Salinas, PhD - US grants

LAY ABSTRACT Interaction between Multiple Memory Systems in the Mammalian Brain IBN9813587 The field of behavioral neuroscience has begun to appreciate that the control and direction of a presumably simple behavioral response may not be the result of a single psychological process, but may reflect the involvement of more than one such process and therefore, the involvement of more than one underlying neural system. When more than one neural system is involved in guiding and directing behavior on the basis of experience, there are three possible ways that these systems can logically interact during a learning situation: A) they may operate independently and simultaneously, in a parallel redundant fashion, B) one system may predominate over the other(s) to control behavior, or C) multiple systems may need to cooperate in order to solve a given task. The goal of the proposed experiments is to collect preliminary data on the neurochemical basis of these interactions in order to develop in vivo animal model systems for the complex cognitive control of behavior. The proposed preliminary research utilizes behavioral tasks that have been used previously with permanent and reversible lesion methodologies to focus on the second logical form of interaction, one neural system predominating over the other(s). To investigate the roles of specific neural structures in the functional and neurochemical relationships among multiple memory systems, the experiments employ two complementary techniques. The first is in vivo microdialysis coupled with high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to measure neurotransmitter release in structures important for learning and memory (i.e., hippocampus and dorsal striatum) during ongoing learning and behavior. The second is site-specific direct brain injections to alter the activity in specific neurochemical systems during learning and behavior. The findings are anticipated to provide the basis for understanding the mechanisms und erlying the allocation of control over behavior by specific neural systems. The aim of future studies is to describe and categorize further the neuroanatomical and neurochemical bases of interactions among multiple memory systems. Greater understanding of these interactions is necessary to develop accurate models of the ongoing complex control and direction of behavior. Such refined models would be of value to other fields of inquiry ranging from the basic neurobiology and neuroethology to the design of complex computational neural networks.

The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the retention and graduation of undergraduate students in science and mathematics. The project plans to achieve its goals by offering well-designed, high impact STEM courses that build upon culture, community engagement, and regionally-relevant research. To these ends, this project will train STEM faculty in culturally relevant pedagogy and community engaged scholarship. These faculty will then develop new mathematics and biology "gateway" courses for first year/early career students, offered in a bilingual modality. The faculty will also develop new classes in Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning, which will emphasize meaningful engagement in community-based STEM-related projects. By emphasizing the broader, societal relevance of STEM fields, these new courses will help first year students develop a sense of belonging and commitment. It is expected that these innovations will enhance students' success in STEM, helping to address a national need to increase diversity in STEM fields.

This project will design and implement professional development workshops to help faculty develop inclusive, culturally relevant teaching practices, and to help faculty implement effective community engagement and experiential learning in STEM. These faculty will develop and teach new introductory core biology and math courses ("gateway courses") in a bilingual modality, as well as new first year courses in Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning. Through measures of academic, behavioral, and perceptual gains (e.g., pre/post assessments; measures of science motivation), the project will determine the impact of these courses on students' sense of belonging, pride, and cultural wealth, with the goal of defining how these characteristics intersect with student performance and retention. Using surveys, open ended questions, and focus group interviews, this project also aims to measure the impact of the professional development activities and new courses on faculty awareness of community engagement and on the faculty's use of culturally-relevant pedagogies.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.