Using Ocean Plastic Research to Increase Student Engagement and Persistence in Biology
Ana Maria Barral, National University
The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at National University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by adding research experiences to undergraduate biology courses. Through a collaboration with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this project incorporates course-based undergraduate research (CURE) biology courses for biology majors and for non-majors. The research topics focuses on plastic pollution in the ocean, particularly the microbial populations attached to floating plastic. The CURE is modular and can be adapted for undergraduate courses of different levels. In addition, a virtual adaptation was implemented during the Covid-19 epidemic lockdown phase. A version of the CURE designed for microbiology courses uses the established Tiny Earth methodology to isolate antibiotic producing bacteria from plastic debris.

Knossos Ancient Lake Environment, Australia
Wendy Taylor, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
The 2.73 Ga Knossos Locality is a succession of clastic and carbonate rocks outcropping along the southern margin of the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia. It hosts abundant, diverse and exceptionally ...

Living Microorganisms, Shark Bay, Australia
Wendy Taylor, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
3,000 years ago microbes started building up stromatolites in Shark Bay, Western Australia. These structures are the earliest signs of life on Earth, and are considered the longest continuing biological lineage. ...

Evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria
Elena Bray Speth, Saint Louis University-Main Campus
This activity is intended to guide students to apply principles of evolution by natural selection to explain a real world biological phenomenon (the evolution of bacteria populations resistant to common ...

Vaccinations
Claudia Khourey-Bowers, Kent State University-Stark Campus
Vaccines have been used for thousands of years to protect against infectious diseases. In historic and contemporary society, there have been mixed perspectives on the value of vaccines. The medical community, ...