Research Initiation Award: Comparison of the Transcriptional Regulation of Genes Expressed in Drosophila Midline Glia and Trachea

研究启动奖（RIAs）为传统黑人学院和大学（HBCUs）中开始建立研究项目的初级教师提供支持，也为需要重新指导和重建研究项目的职业中期教师提供支持。期望该奖项有助提升研究人员的研究能力和成效，改善研究人员所在院校的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究经验。奥古斯丁大学的RIA为本科生建立了一个研究项目，旨在吸引、支持和留住主要是代表性不足的少数民族学生，他们主修科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学科，对攻读STEM学科的博士学位和随后的STEM研究职业感兴趣。该项目的目标是：1)让学生在暑期实习之外接触尖端的实验研究；2)让学生更好地为严格的研究生学习做好准备；3)增加未被充分代表的少数民族的数量，他们选择并准备在STEM领域攻读高级学位和职业。虽然不限于，但该项目针对的是该机构主要主修生物学的学生。本实验/研究旨在研究果蝇中线和气管基因在多个水平上的表达，并了解特定基因调控相互作用如何结合在一起产生不同的中枢神经系统中线细胞。更具体地说，这些实验提供了神经元和神经胶质是如何在发育过程中产生的见解，包括理解神经元和神经胶质相互作用的基本过程，以及基因表达和中枢神经系统发育的控制。这些实验将提供一个平台，以了解这些基本过程在本科水平。从这些活动中获得的知识可以很容易地纳入本科课程，如分子细胞生物学和遗传学，以及气管。该项目促进了本科生对STEM高需求专业的兴趣，特别是在生物科学领域。它支持一个更大的STEM倡议，旨在增加和加强HBCU与主流大学、州和地区研究实验室、美国农业部和其他STEM研究相关企业之间的伙伴关系、网络和合作，努力增加进入和留在STEM管道中的代表性不足群体的数量。通过这个项目，学生有机会成功完成学士学位，从事尖端的实验研究，攻读研究生课程或进入更广泛的科学相关领域的职业，以满足当地、区域、国家和全球的劳动力需求。此外，该项目还为其他寻求促进STEM本科研究项目的少数族裔服务机构创建和调整成功的活动提供了典范。

Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support for junior faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who need to re-direct and re-build a research program. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the researcher's home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences.St. Augustine's University's RIA establishes a research program for undergraduates that aims to attract, support and retain primarily underrepresented minority students majoring in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discipline who are interested in a pursuing a Ph.D. in a STEM discipline and a subsequent career in STEM research. The program goals are to: 1) expose students to cutting-edge bench research beyond summer internships 2) better prepare students for the rigors of graduate studies and 3) increase the number of underrepresented minorities, who elect and are well-prepared to pursue advanced degrees and careers in the STEM fields. Although not limited to, the project targets students at the institution who are majoring primarily in biology.The experiments/research are designed to examine Drosophila midline and trachea gene expression at several levels and to understand how specific gene regulatory interactions combine to generate different cells in the CNS midline. More specifically, the experiments provide insight into how neurons and glia are generated during development, including understanding the basic processes of neuron-glia interactions, and control of gene expression and CNS development. These experiments will provide a platform to learn about these basic processes at the undergraduate level. Knowledge gained from these activities can readily be incorporated into undergraduate courses such as molecular cell biology and genetics, and trachea. The project promotes undergraduate student interest in high demand specializations in STEM, particularly in the biological sciences. It supports a larger STEM initiative that seeks to increase and strengthen partnerships, networks and collaborations between HBCU and mainstream universities, state and regional research laboratories, USDA and other STEM research-related enterprises in efforts to increase the numbers of underrepresented groups that enter and remain in the STEM pipeline. Through this project, students have the opportunity to successfully complete their baccalaureate degrees, engage in cutting-edge bench research and to pursue graduate programs or enter careers in a broader range of science-related fields that will meet the local, regional, national and global workforce needs. Additionally, this project serves as a model for creating and adapting successful activities for other minority-serving institutions seeking to promote undergraduate research programs in STEM.