URM: Cross-disciplinary Research at the Intersection of Biotechnology and the Environment

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ABSTRACTThe 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 .