Roger Buchanan, PhD - US grants

Biological Sciences (61) The major objective of this project is to improve student learning in an introductory biology course for non SMET (Science, Math, Engineering and Technology) majors at Arkansas State University (ASU) by including problem-based (PBL) and collaborative learning experiences. All ASU undergraduates are required to complete two lab science courses as part of their general education requirement. Biological Science and Laboratory is a preferred option for freshman and has an annual enrollment of about 1500 students in 50 sections. The laboratory currently follows a traditional introductory model that is instructor-centered, with students individually responsible for completing a set of discrete lab activities that correspond to lecture topics taught by multiple instructors in multiple sections. Our course evaluation data show that the desired student outcomes including (1) retaining appropriate content by the non SMET student, (2) developing informed decision making skills about scientific issues, (3) enhancing critical thinking skills, and (4) familiarizing students with education enhancing technologies are not satisfactorily met using present pedagogical techniques. Considerable evidence from other institutions indicates that using collaborative, Problem Based Learning to introduce content in the context of complex real-world problems, and group learning can produce these desired outcomes. However, restructuring this course requires training instructors in techniques for facilitating PBL and collaborative learning as well as the development and adaptation of laboratory exercises so that students have opportunities to learn basic biological principles through discovery. To accomplish this, two adjoining classrooms are being equipped with 12 workstations allowing simultaneous data accumulation, data analysis, information acquisition, and reporting by 12 student workgroups. When fully implemented these changes will affect about 15,000 students within five years. The results of the laboratory experience are being evaluated to verify that student understanding of science processes and retention of biology content is improved. The effort is built upon and will be an adaptation of descriptions of Problem-based and collaborative learning in the science education literature.

This interdisciplinary investigation will foster a better understanding of the variations in trace element concentrations in fish ear stones (otoliths) and study the utilization of these variations in reconstucting environmental life histories of freshwater fish. A central goal is to develop this technique for use in freshwater fisheries studies by testing the ability of otolith microchemistry to record small variations in water chemistry within a watershed. This research is made possible by recent developments in analytical chemistry. Specifically, the development of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) makes possible an interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together complementary expertise in field ecology, trace element geochemistry and analytical chemistry. The otoliths of fish are key indicators of fish life history as the layers of the otolith record the chemistry of the water in which the fish lived at the time of otolith deposition. With these layers deposited daily we can use the chemical variations in the otoliths to chemically fingerprint the nursery habitats. The distribution of a suite of elements and isotopes in otoliths (including Ba, Sr, Mg, Ca, the rare earths, Pb, d18O, d13C, and 87Sr) will be studied to determine elemental and isotopic variation within a population of brown trout, Salmo trutta, in the Little Red River watershed of central Arkansas. The major thrust of this project is to develop the technique of using otolith microchemistry to reconstruct environmental life histories of fresh water fish. This study will provide a better understanding of otolith microchemistry which could be applied to a wide range of concerns that may be biological, anthropological or environmental in nature. The project will also train students in these various cross-disciplinary studies.

sensory feedback; arousal; neurons; single cell analysis; laboratory rat;

ABSTRACT

The goal of the URM program at Arkansas State University (Research Internships in Science of the Environment- University Program, RISE-UP, is to produce highly competent undergraduate students who successfully enroll and complete graduate degrees in the biological sciences. Specifically, RISE-UP seeks to increase access and opportunity for students traditionally under-represented in the biological sciences. Students will be engaged in their first college year in a series of activities dedicated to fostering the following learning outcomes: Problem Identification Skills, Problem Characterization Skills, Communication Competency (oral, written, and technological), Research Skills, and Analytical Skills. Within their first year in the program students will be engaged in meaningful research that leads to presentation at national/international conferences and to publication of their research findings in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Using an apprentice model, faculty mentors will be engaged in life-long mentorship of undergraduate students in the classroom, research setting and beyond the undergraduate degree. Students participating in RISE-UP will complete their undergraduate degrees and successfully enroll in a research-based graduate program in the biological sciences. To realize these objectives, students will become members of one of 4 collaborative cross-disciplinary research teams. Each team is led by a senior faculty member with significant experience mentoring undergraduate researchers and consists of 3-5 mentors who are focused on a research project that leverages University strengths in the agri-environmental and molecular biosciences. The research focus of these four groups are: Evolution of Streams through Urban and Rural Landscapes, Molecular Diagnostics & High-throughput Technologies, Nanotoxicology and Metabolite Identification. For more information, visit http://programs.astate.edu/rise/rise-up/index.htm .

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

Support from the NSF MRI-R2 program has allowed the purchase of a Beckman Coulter MoFlo XDP cell sorter, a BD Pathway 885 High-Content Bioimager, and a Miltenyi Gentle Macs Dissociator, and related equipment to support research focused on understanding the biodynamics of molecular interactions leading to cellular differentiation. This interdisciplinary effort integrates faculty, post-doctoral and student researchers in the disciplines of biochemistry, immunology, physiology, molecular cell biology, neurobiology and plant biology. Results of studies planned for this suite of instruments will allow specific subsets of T cells to be identified, separated, cultured, and their interactions with specific activating and inhibiting factors imaged in real time. The differential effects of growth factors on freshly isolated subpopulations of dorsal root ganglion neurons grown on carbon and magnetic nanotube substrates will be characterized. The uptake of plant lectins and fluorescent nanocrystals by pulmonary and immune cells in intact animals and the subsequent effects of this absorption on cellular molecular dynamics will be characterized. The equipment will also be used to support science education outreach to high school, undergraduate and graduate students. ASU has active NSF-funded REU, URM, GK-12, and Louis Stokes Minority Alliance programs, as well as a recently funded McNair project, that focus on recruiting, retaining and enhancing the educational experience of students of under-represented minorities. Many of these students are actively participating in research projects in the PIs labs. To further broaden potential impacts, training and applications seminars will be held in addition to integrating these technologies into our Molecular Biosciences PhD techniques courses in immunology and microscopy. Enhanced research capabilities will strengthen the University's effort to recruit and retain minority students, faculty, and collaborators who might otherwise choose other universities or other disciplines to study. Results from the studies will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented by students and faculty at regional and national meetings.