These funds will provide for the acquisition of equipment necessary to teach a junior/senior level plant physiology course. An upper level cell biology laboratory course will also benefit from this grant. In this course students will conduct plant physiology experiments with plants culturally significant to them or plants of African origin, but not to the exclusion of other plant species. Students are required to design and run an experiment as a special class project and report the results in the form of a scientific presentation. The course will emphasize plant biochemistry, water relations and mineral nutrition, growth and development, and photosynthesis. Environmental aspects of plant physiology will be demonstrated as well. Therefore, we are requesting a centrifuge, spectrophotometer, shaker, balances, pH meter, laminar air flow hood, a growth chamber, and a thermocouple psychrometer. The presence of this equipment in our undergraduate program will facilitate the teaching of plant physiology, enhance our capabilities for undergraduate research, and influence the career choices of our students.
