We propose an Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement project that will provide for each of the next two years, an intense twelve-day laboratory short course in Molecular Genetics & Evolutionary Biology in the summer with a 4-day follow-up session each January, and on-going technical and material support. A highly successful established format that evolved from ten prior national Chautauqua courses was used in the design and development of our proposed Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement project. Twenty-two faculty will be selected each year from a national applicant pool comprised of faculty from community colleges, 4-year liberal arts colleges and universities, comprehensive universities, and research universities. Participants will learn the fundamentals of molecular biology through the presentation of lectures and demonstrations, and they will also conduct a series of experiments to develop skill in PCR amplification, restriction enzyme analysis, and various gel separation techniques. In research groups of 4-5 composed of a mix faculty from community colleges and four-year institutions, the participants will investigate "thematic" research projects. Seminar speakers will discuss their research on procaryote, vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant systems, and their application of molecular techniques. Faculty will implement the molecular techniques that they learn by adapting the exercises from the course into undergraduate laboratory courses at their respective institutions. Trained faculty will have gained the extraordinary capabilities afforded by these techniques to access the genomes of natural populations from any taxa on earth and thus create unique laboratory curricula at their own institutions. The SFSU faculty and Instructional Support Technician will support participants after the summer course in the incorporation of molecular techniques and analysis in undergraduate instruction. Participants will also develop skill and confidence with molecular techn iques to use in their research. The workshop will be used to develop laboratory modules and exercises for use in primary and secondary education.
