The broad, long term objectives of this project are to increase the number of ethnic minority students who are successful in their pursuit of bachelors degrees in the biomedical sciences and to further stimulate these students to consider graduate studies. The target groups are Black, Hispanic and Native American students enrolled at Pima Community College (PCC) and Navajo Community College (NCC) who have indicated an interest in the sciences. This project will enhance these students' academic competitiveness in four ways by: 1) providing computer-aided instruction and tutorials for the introductory biology courses; 2) introducing students to the working biomedical laboratory by offering a one-semester seminar, a guest lecture series and trips to the University of Arizona (UA) to prepare for research; 3) providing research experience for students and their instructors in UA biomedical researchers' laboratories; and, 4) involving students in oral and poster presentations of their work at UA and at national scientific conferences. The success of each activity will be evaluated. Relationships between student use of computer tutorials and grades in biology courses will be determined. Standard course evaluations will be performed at the end of the seminar course and students will describe the usefulness of this research preparation once they have completed their research projects. Questionnaires will be used to evaluate students' and community college faculty members' research experience. Students will be asked to assess their own ability and motivation to continue studies in science. An informal assessment of students' performance at conferences will be made by faculty attending. Data gathered from students and faculty will be used to refine the program in subsequent years. Contact with students will be maintained to assess whether they enter biomedical careers. A list of publications and presentations ensuing from the research experience of the community college faculty will be compiled and their success in transferring research experience into the classroom will be evaluated. These activities enhance and extend existing collaboration among the three institutions.
| Kirschenbaum, S R; Higgins, M R; Tveten, M et al. (1995) 20-Hydroxyecdysone stimulates proliferation of glial cells in the developing brain of the moth Manduca sexta. J Neurobiol 28:234-47 |
