Catalyst Project: Biology Program Enhancement Through Education and Research in the Ecological Sciences

催化剂项目为历史上的黑人学院和大学（HBCU）提供支持，致力于建立教师的研究能力，以加强科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）本科教育和研究。预计该奖项将进一步提高教师的研究能力，改善研究和教学机构，并参与本科生的研究经验。圣奥古斯丁学院旨在通过强调生态科学和采用基于研究的教育方法来提高生物学课程本科生的STEM教育质量。具体而言，该项目概述了实施循证教学干预措施的战略，以提高学生的批判性思维和分析能力，并增加生物学专业学生的数量，他们最终进入生态科学劳动力队伍或攻读研究生学位。 在这个项目中，圣奥古斯丁学院的STEM专业学生将接触到生态科学的真实研究经验，以获得新兴的科学劳动力机会和/或竞争性地进入注入强大生物数学的尖端研究生课程。生态科学计划将为学生提供生态系统，分子和生物数学研究领域的实践培训，这些研究目前仅限于圣奥古斯丁学院。学生将在第1年和第2年的第一年生物学课程中介绍生态科学研究，并在项目的第2年通过结合领域和分子生态学研讨会系列。此外，学生将在校外的研究经验在北卡罗来纳州查佩尔山-海洋科学研究所，北卡罗来纳州州立大学，或杜克大学的支持。对于分子和数据科学培训，将包括使用Nanopore MinION系统的下一代测序，定量PCR研究和R编程分析。该项目还将评估生物学专业的学生招聘情况，他们的学术成就和保留率，以及学生毕业后的成功。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to work towards establishing the research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate education and research. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, improve research and teaching at the institution, and involve undergraduate students in research experiences. Saint Augustine’s College seeks to enhance the quality of STEM education for undergraduate students enrolled in the biology curriculum by emphasizing ecological sciences and incorporating research-based educational approaches. Specifically, the project outlines strategies to implement evidence-based pedagogical interventions that advance students’ critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as increase the number of biology majors, who ultimately enter the ecological sciences workforce or pursue graduate degrees. In this project, STEM majors at Saint Augustine’s College will be exposed to authentic research experiences in the ecological sciences for emerging scientific workforce opportunities and/or competitive entry into cutting-edge graduate programs that infuse robust biomathematics. The ecological sciences initiative will offer students hands-on training in the areas of ecosystem, molecular, and biomathematics research, which are currently limited at Saint Augustine’s College. Students will be introduced to ecological sciences research in a first-year biology course in years 1 and 2 and through a combined field and molecular ecology workshop series in year 2 of the project. In addition, students will be supported in off-campus research experiences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Institute of Marine Sciences, North Carolina State University, or Duke University. For molecular and data science training, next-generation sequencing using the Nanopore MinION System, quantitative PCR studies, and R programming analysis will be included. This project will also evaluate student recruitment to the biology major, their academic success and retention, coupled with student post-graduation success.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.