The Robeson Regional Biotech Education Consortium (RRBEC) project aims to create a consortium between one university, one community college, and various public schools and local industries to increase knowledge, instruction, technical training and innovation in agricultural biotechnology. The project includes activities such as laboratory pilot-scale production of cellular extractions that enable students and faculty alike to engage in the process of discovery in agricultural biotechnology, a subdiscipline within the field that has national and global significance. The RRBEC is improving the technical and pedagogical biotechnology skills of educators charged with teaching secondary and post-secondary students in southeastern North Carolina; enhancing the biotechnology curriculum for community college students; and increasing the number of technicians and researchers in the field of agricultural biotechnology.
Intellectual Merit: This project improves a community college curriculum by adding both educational and training activities in agricultural biotechnology using adaptations from the NSF Bio-Link project. Undergraduate students benefit from vocational biotechnology courses, as well as college transfer courses. Industries offer direct input in the curriculum, and internship opportunities for students. Teachers benefit with hands-on workshops and classroom kits. Faculty enhancement occurs through laboratory research, workshops and seminars. Most of the activities are organized through the establishment of an academy for students, teachers and faculty.
Broader Impacts: Since the program serves more than 66% minorities and 80% first-generation college students, the RRBEC is increasing the numbers of underrepresented students in agricultural biotechnology vocational and college transfer curricula and among biotechnology technicians. The project provides training and professional development of secondary school science teachers from the county and throughout the region, impacting hundreds of students each year. The project adapts materials from Bio-Link, and is evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methods by an external evaluator.
