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

催化剂项目为历史悠久的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)提供支持，以努力建立教职员工的研究能力，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职员工的研究能力，改善学院的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究经验。圣奥古斯丁学院通过强调生态科学和采用以研究为基础的教育方法，力求提高生物课程本科生的STEM教育质量。具体地说，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技能，并增加生物专业的人数，这些学生最终进入生态科学劳动力大军或攻读研究生学位。在这个项目中，圣奥古斯丁学院的STEM专业学生将接触到真实的生态科学研究经验，以获得新兴的科学劳动力机会和/或竞争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，目前圣奥古斯丁学院仅限于这些领域。学生将在第一年和第二年的一年级生物学课程中了解生态科学研究，并在项目第二年通过田野和分子生态学系列综合研讨会向学生介绍生态科学研究。此外，学生将在北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校-海洋科学研究所、北卡罗来纳州立大学或杜克大学的校外研究体验中得到支持。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、定量聚合酶链式反应研究和R编程分析。该项目还将评估生物专业的学生招生情况，他们的学业成就和保持情况，以及学生毕业后的成功情况。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.