The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Targeted Infusion Projects supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue STEM graduate programs and/or careers. The project at Fisk University seeks to improve the undergraduate STEM curriculum and help the University achieve its aspiration of developing a Bioinformatics/Biomathematics or Quantitative and Computational Biology (QCB) major. The project's proposed curriculum innovation activities will serve as a testing ground for exploring the impact of teaching on student learning, retention in quantitative biology/mathematics/or computer science as majors, and selection of career pathways. This project will help to strengthen the research and learning culture and infrastructure at the University as it moves towards expanding into degree-granting biomathematics and bioinformatics programs. The project's activities are expected to increase interest in STEM fields, increase retention and progression in STEM disciplines, and will serve as a possible replicable model for other institutions that share a similar mission.
The overall goal of the program is to enhance and strengthen the existing undergraduate curriculum for STEM majors by introducing computational and data-enabled active learning in mathematics, biology and computer science, integrated with a faculty-mentored summer research program. To achieve this goal, the following activities are proposed: develop and implement a bio-pre-calculus course in order to provide biology students a better understanding of the applications of algebraic and trigonometric fundamentals in biological problems; offer short (one credit) courses to teach programming languages--Python, R, Linux, and Galaxy--often used for biological data processing and data analysis; offer a summer research program to a selected pool of 6 rising sophomores, juniors or seniors with biology, mathematics or computer science major, to develop competence in research; and offer computational and bio-mathematical research seminars and colloquia featuring speakers from departments and programs across campus, plus invited guests from industry and other universities to emphasize the use of computing to solve complex biological problems and develop new insight. This combination of activities will provide a solid interdisciplinary link between mathematics, computer science and biology; foster quantitative and discovery based learning on the topics of life sciences; stimulate students' research interests by enhancing their programming skill; and increase student participation in classrooms through data-enabled- and case-study-oriented active learning.
