Equipment for Research-Oriented First-Year Seminar and UpperLevel Courses

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This project addresses the problem of how best to stimulate and then sustain undergraduate interest in science. The underlying assumption is that early exposure (i.e., first semester or first-year) to the excitement and rigor of scientific research is a spark that will ignite students' latent scientific interests. Two pilot research-oriented first-year seminars, Preserving Genomes and Protein Structure, have proven to be valuable in identifying promising scientists and in motivating students to engage in research. The project objective is two-fold: to upgrade the research-oriented first-year seminar courses by incorporating technologies utilizing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and computer simulations of biomolecular structure, and to apply what has been learned in the two pilot studies to a select group of upper-level courses, Recombinant DNA, Bioanalytical Chemistry, and Biophysical Chemistry, an extension the department believes is required to sustain the students' enthusiasm for original research beyond the introductory level. The proposal is thus targeted at first-year students and upper-level students who enroll in affected courses. PCR-based experiments, using DNA templates that have never been amplified before, are being introduced in the first-year seminar Preserving Genomes and offered at a more advanced level in Recombinant DNA. Computer simulations of protein and nucleic acid structure are being carried out on graphics workstations in the first-year seminar Protein Structure. Modular experiments in which novel structures are simulated are being developed for incorporation into the advanced courses Bioanalytical Chemistry and Biophysical Chemistry, in which aspects of original research involving isolation and characterization of novel proteins already exist. The success of the pilot research-oriented first-year seminars has been described in an undergraduate presentation at a national conference and in an article in the Journal of Chemical Education. Similar means can be used to evaluate and disseminate descriptions of incorporating PCR and computer simulations of biomolecular structure into these courses. Results can be shared at a national meeting, in written articles, and on the World Wide Web.