One of the most important environmental issues facing the Southwestern U.S. is the availability and quality of water. Water treatment is therefore an increasingly important technology at the forefront of environmental microbiology. To better prepare undergraduate microbiology students to face this challenge, this project adapts and implements a new water quality curriculum in an environmental microbiology laboratory course. In addition, the project engages high school and community college students from around Northern Arizona in water quality laboratory exercises.
Intellectual Merit: The new laboratory curriculum, focused on water quality microbiology, links field experiences at the nearby Rio De Flag Water Reclamation Facility with current molecular and functional laboratory approaches. Students acquire treated and untreated water samples from this facility for assessment of viral abundance, fecal coliform counts and the presence of organic pollutants. Students then enrich for contaminant-degrading organisms and isolate, characterize and sequence a contaminant-degrading organism from treatment facility samples. Student teams also design, conduct, and present experiments focused on removal of coliform bacteria or pollutants using samples from the facility.
Broader Impacts: The project's target audience is in Northern Arizona and is composed of undergraduate students in Flagstaff, community college students at Yavapai Community College, Verde Valley (which serves a substantial population of Navajo and Hopi tribal members) and students at two high schools on the Navajo reservation. The undergraduate students include substantial numbers of ethnic minority students, including Native American students. The collaboration with the Rio De Flag Water Reclamation Facility strengthens ties between the university and the community and provides opportunities for undergraduates to understand the role of environmental microbiology in a critical application.
