proposal to the howard hughes medical...
TRANSCRIPT
PROPOSAL TO
THE HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE
UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAM
Submitted by:
Dr. Walter Harris, Provost
Loyola University New Orleans
October 10, 2003
Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary and Previous Program Activities and Accomplishments ..................3 II. The Program........................................................................................................................11
A. The Research Scholars Program........................................................................................11 B. The Faculty Development Program ..................................................................................15 C. The Curriculum, Equipment, and Laboratory Program ....................................................17 D. The Outreach Program ......................................................................................................20
III. Program Administration......................................................................................................23
A. Director..............................................................................................................................23 B. Administrative Assistants..................................................................................................24 C. Assessment ........................................................................................................................25 D. Dissemination....................................................................................................................27
IV. Budget Data V. Institutional Data VI. Curriculum Vitae, Program Director VII. Letters of Commitment A. Tulane University, School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology (2 letters)
B. Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Department of Tropical Medicine
C. Tulane University, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
D. Girl Scout Council of Southeast Louisiana
E. Teaching Responsible Earth Education
F. Loyola University New Orleans, Department of Education
G. Loyola University New Orleans, Department of Physics
H. Loyola University New Orleans, Department of Chemistry I. Loyola University New Orleans, Department of Biological Sciences
2
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Loyola University New Orleans requests a grant of $1,167,722 over a four-year period to
establish a four-part program to enhance and expand our efforts to train undergraduate students for
biomedical careers.
The Research Scholars Program
The goal of the Research Scholars Program is to involve a greater number and more diverse
group of undergraduates in science through sustained research and mentoring. Establishing the Research
Scholars Program will increase opportunities for undergraduate science research for up to 35 students to
engage in 10 weeks of full-time research during summers following both their sophomore and junior
years and for research during the junior and senior academic years. Applicants to the Research Scholars
Program must be declared science or mathematics majors and have attained a minimum GPA of 3.0 in
science and mathematics courses. We have found that many of our most outstanding students fall within
this range of GPA performance during their early years. Students who wish to participate in the Research
Scholars Program will be required to develop a research proposal during the spring semester of their
sophomore year, with the guidance of a faculty member. The Research Scholars will write a grant
proposal, conduct independent research, write a thesis and make a presentation at our Undergraduate
Research Symposium. Students will also present their results at a national or international scientific
meeting. The Research Scholars will participate in a weekly journal club and student research seminar
series with a faculty member in attendance. In addition, as a service learning component, the Research
Scholars will serve as mentors to middle school girls in an annual science camp, as described in our
outreach section. The mentoring relationship between Loyola’s research students and faculty results in
integrating students into a scholarly community that guides students as in all aspects of the scientific
process and professional development, and affirms students as they participate in research. The Research
Scholars will be paired with a faculty mentor in order to provide them with the most supportive and
productive learning environment. Our greatest need is to expand and enhance our research program to
3
reach a larger and more diverse group of undergraduate science students. The budget for this program is
$442,696 (38%).
The Faculty Development Program
The goals of our Faculty Development Program are to conduct a series of faculty development
workshops concerned with the latest research on interdisciplinary pedagogy for our science and
mathematics faculty, and to hire two new faculty members, who will have specific duties related to the
implementation of interdisciplinary curricula. In the first two faculty development workshops, an external
consultant, identified through Project Kaleidoscope, will guide us through best practices in developing
investigative and interdisciplinary curricula. The third workshop will address methods to better assess
student learning in our new interdisciplinary courses. The fourth workshop will assist faculty in
evaluating the effectiveness of interdisciplinary curricular changes. We also propose to hire two new
faculty members, a Ph.D. biologist and a Masters or Ph.D. level biologist, who will assist as the
Department of Biological Sciences reforms its non-majors introductory course and core laboratories. We
will hire a tenure-track Ph.D. biologist with skills in interdisciplinary pedagogy, who will assist as the
department redesigns the non-majors introductory science curriculum to be an interdisciplinary, hands-on,
laboratory-based course that challenges students’ understanding of science and improves their scientific
literacy. To invigorate our core laboratories, we propose to hire a Masters or Ph.D. level, non-tenure track
instructor who will serve as a versatile resource person for biology’s core laboratories. Hiring a new
faculty member whose primary focus is improving the laboratories for biology majors will be an asset to
our department as we develop an interdisciplinary approach to our teaching laboratories. Loyola
University New Orleans will continue funding of both faculty positions following completion of the
grant. The total cost for this component is $311,938 (27%).
The Curriculum, Equipment, and Laboratory Program
The goal of the Curriculum, Equipment, and Laboratory Program is to enrich our curriculum in
the life sciences by introducing interdisciplinary modules, interdisciplinary courses and course sequences,
a new interdisciplinary major, and to update our laboratory teaching equipment to facilitate collaborative,
4
inquiry-driven learning. Faculty from the Department of Biological Sciences will work with colleagues
in the Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, and with the
Environmental Communications Program to develop the proposed curricula. These curricular changes
will help biology majors as well as non-majors to realize the connections between their different science
and mathematics courses. Science and mathematics faculty will introduce an interdisciplinary approach
by adding modules from another discipline into individual courses. Two new interdisciplinary modules
will be incorporated into courses each year of the grant. We will also develop three interdisciplinary
courses and course sequences to facilitate our students understanding of the relationships between
biology, mathematics, physics and computer science as well as to strengthen their ability to effectively
communicate science. In response to student demand and as a result of increased faculty collaboration,
our departments have developed a proposal for a joint Biochemistry/Molecular Biology major. This
program will provide faculty with course replacement time to design the new curricula and students with
training using modern laboratory equipment better suited for research. The total request for this program
is $121,238 (10%).
The Outreach Program
The goal of our Outreach Program is to offer an annual, discovery-based science program for
middle school girls, which will engage our Research Scholars and Loyola’s undergraduate elementary
education students (pre-service teachers) as mentors. The biology faculty, in collaboration with other
science and mathematics faculty at Loyola, the undergraduate students and community advisors, will
develop an innovative science program geared toward middle school girls. We expect this program will
excite the middle school girls about science, draw them closer to the Loyola community, and affirm
undergraduate science and pre-service teachers in the dynamic role of mentors. Fifth to seventh grade
girls will be recruited to participate in the science camp by virtue of their involvement with the Girl Scout
Council of Southeast Louisiana. The Girl Scouts recruit girls from differing socio-economic, ethnic, or
racial backgrounds, and have identified “bridging girls to careers in science” as a national priority. The
first year of the program will consist of developing age-appropriate, discovery-based, learning exercises
5
in the fall and implementing a pilot science camp in the spring with a limited number of participants and
mentors. The program will be evaluated and refined; in the remaining three years of the grant, Loyola will
host two, annual one-day camps impacting at least 215 girls and 108 undergraduate mentors. A goal of
the program is to influence a greater number of future K-12 teachers who will subsequently influence
their students with stimulating science. We will select pre-service teachers as participants in consultation
with our Department of Education and Counseling, with a special intent to recruit women and minority
students. The program will encourage the Research Scholars to consider a career in teaching and will
further develop their understanding of scientific concepts. Successful investigative exercises will be
compiled into a booklet, which will be made available to local middle-school teachers, nationally through
our website, and presented at conferences. The outreach program will continue after the completion of the
HHMI grant as we build activities into grant applications. The total request for this program is $52,504
(4%).
Program Administration
Administration of the HHMI initiative at Loyola will be the responsibility of Dr. Patricia Dorn, in
conjunction with a steering committee. Dr. Dorn maintains an active research program, which has
involved mentoring 20 undergraduate students in her laboratory over the last 10 years, 63% of which have
been minority students and 89% female. Three of these are current students, and all of the remaining have
advanced in careers in biomedicine. Dr. Dorn has conducted collaborative research with colleagues in
Guatemala for the past eight years, including appropriate technology transfer. At Loyola, Dr. Dorn
teaches the core courses, majors’ electives, and a non-majors course, including laboratories for the core
and major elective courses. Dr. Dorn is active in two of the university’s interdisciplinary minors,
Women’s Studies and Latin American Studies, and with the Loyola-Mexico exchange program. The
director’s duties will include oversight of the entire program, including the budget, along with a steering
committee comprised of Dr. Donald Hauber, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and
coordinator of the Research Scholars Program; Dr. Maureen Shuh, Assistant Professor of Biological
Sciences and coordinator of the Faculty Development Program; Dr. Aihua Li, Associate Professor of
6
Mathematics and coordinator of the Curriculum, Equipment, and Laboratory Program; Dr. James Wee,
Professor of Biological Sciences and coordinator of the Outreach Program; Dr. Laurie Joyner, Associate
Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and coordinator of the Assessment
Program; and Dr. David Estes, Assistant Provost for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development. In
addition, a community member with expertise in middle school education will be added to the steering
committee to assist us with the outreach component. Dr. Dorn will hire and supervise the half-time HHMI
administrative assistant, and prepare the annual reports for the HHMI. The total cost for program
administration is $90,460 (8%).
The Assessment Program
The goal of our Assessment Program is to conduct both internal and external evaluations to
provide systematic data and analysis of the effectiveness of Loyola’s Howard Hughes Program. We will
be assisted in our evaluations by Dr. Laurie Joyner, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences, and a
sociologist with expertise in assessment. The focus of the internal evaluation will be gathering detailed
records of the activities of the faculty, undergraduate, and middle school students who participate in
different components of the program. The program director and coordinators of the component parts will
use annual surveys and interviews to assess participant satisfaction and solicit feedback geared toward
program improvement. The internal evaluation will involve developing a comprehensive tracking strategy
to collect information and data on various constituent groups impacted by Loyola’s HHMI Program.
During each of the evaluation periods, the external evaluation review team will assess the outcomes of the
overall initiative with an emphasis on evaluating the quality of curricular reform and its connection to
improved student learning outcomes. Based on the external evaluators assessment, aspects of the program
that require revision will be made. During each of the evaluation periods, the review team will meet with
the program director, program coordinators, the steering committee, college administrators, students
involved in the program, science faculty, and participating science camp personnel. Surveys will be
collected from middle-school girls at the start of each outreach science camp and immediately following
the camp to provide feedback to improve that program. Surveys of the undergraduate mentors and
7
middle-school science camp participants will assess the impact of the outreach program on their
understanding of scientific principles, decision-making regarding career choice, and confidence in their
participation in discovery-based science. Annual follow-up surveys with the Research Scholars and pre-
service teachers will result in the creation of a historical database of all undergraduate students
participating in Loyola’s program. Information and results from the program will be disseminated by
faculty in national teaching and learning conferences, in journal articles, and on the Loyola and biology
department websites. The Assessment Program has a total budget of $148,886 (13%).
Previous Program Activities and Accomplishments
Science students excel at Loyola because of its distinguished faculty and academic programs and its
ideal size that fosters the success of individual undergraduates. In the university’s Jesuit tradition,
students are guided in their academic pursuits and supported by a “person-centered” learning community.
Several reasons account for Loyola’s success in attracting and educating science students. Loyola’s
undergraduate experience is distinguished by faculty-student mentoring, a student/faculty ratio of 13 to 1,
an average class size of 22, learning communities, and opportunities to work with faculty in research early
in a student’s academic career. Our faculty are research-active and engage undergraduates in their
research. Students not only learn about science in their courses, but also actively participate in the
process of scientific investigation alongside a faculty mentor, usually over an extended period of time. As
our research demands interdisciplinary skills and knowledge, students often work with faculty from two
different disciplines. We promote “learning science by doing science,” innovative curricula and
interdisciplinary teaching methods.
Growth in the Department of Biological Sciences at Loyola reflects the national trend of an
increasing number of students pursuing studies in the life sciences as training for careers in biomedicine.1
The majority of Loyola students pursuing advanced studies in biomedicine major in biology. Over the
past five years, total enrollment in biology has been approximately 210 students and, on average, 35
1 What Works: Building Natural Science Communities (1991). Project Kaleidoscope.
8
students have graduated annually. This year, approximately 70% of biology majors are female and 26%
are African-American, Hispanic or Native American, and many of our female and minority majors are our
most exceptional students. Over the past five years, approximately 30% of our majors participate in
undergraduate research annually and of these 77% pursue advanced degrees in the life sciences. At
Loyola, retention and graduation rates are advancing in the Department of Biological Sciences and our
female and minority biology students succeed in the sciences.
As the third largest academic department in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of
Biological Sciences plays a critical role in educating undergraduate science students and recruiting new
students to the university. Over the past three years, the department taught over 60% of all student credit
hours in the natural sciences in the Common Curriculum, the university’s program of liberalizing
education that complements a student’s major and provides a broad humanistic dimension to every
undergraduate’s program. Biology’s contribution to the Common Curriculum accounts for nearly 40% of
the total student credit hours taught by the department each semester. Our courses also serve a large
population of non-biology majors who are pursuing life science careers, especially in the health
professions and in the environment.
Although Loyola has a long tradition of excellence in educating life science students, our training
of all science students, especially future biomedical researchers, must incorporate a more interdisciplinary
approach and must increase access to undergraduate research for all interested students, particularly
women and minority students. Vast changes in modern biomedical research necessitate an understanding
of the integration of biology with the physical and information sciences, mathematics, engineering and
computer science. 2 With the programs described in this proposal, we aim to educate the next generation
of life science undergraduates, especially those who will advance in biomedical research, with the tools
provided by a broad range of disciplines.
2 Bio 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists (2002). National Research Council.
9
Loyola’s Department of Biological Sciences has been successful in obtaining external funding for
the enhancement of teaching and undergraduate research. With grants from private foundations and state
funding, the department developed the Biological Sciences Instrumentation (BSI) facility to support
laboratories for our revised core and elective curricula as well as to serve as a community laboratory for
cell and molecular research. The department has been the recipient of grants from the National Science
Foundation and the Louisiana Board of Regents for laboratory infrastructure and summer stipends for
student researchers. The Department of Biological Sciences established the Mullahy Eminent Scholar
Chair in Environmental Biology in 1999 with grants from the Louisiana Board of Regents and matching
funds from the university. A successful search was completed last year, and Dr. Paul Barnes will begin
serving in this position next fall.
As evidence of our commitment to expose young people to the excitement of science and to the
university’s Jesuit mission of serving others, the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences are
involved in the community in many ways. For example, faculty participate as guest speakers in
elementary and high school classrooms, as partners in the New Orleans Consortium for Technology
Integration and Implementation in Teacher Education (a Loyola Department of Education initiative that
trains public school teachers to use multimedia instructional technology), and as collaborators in research
with middle school teachers in the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, among others. We view
these efforts as an opportunity to partner with schools and science students in the community in order to
broaden access to and appreciation for the biological sciences.
Loyola University New Orleans has begun a multi-phased fund-raising initiative, The Campaign
for Centennial Preeminence, to address campus-wide needs in the areas of capital projects, student
scholarships, and faculty development. The university aims to increase endowment funds for faculty
development and undergraduate student research in the life sciences. In our efforts to become a
preeminent national comprehensive university, Loyola has intensively studied the related issues of
recruitment and retention, resulting in improvement in all of the key enrollment and retention indicators
for the entire campus. Noel-Levitz, a consulting firm specializing in higher education enrollment, named
10
Loyola one of seven winners of the 2001 Retention Excellence Award for excellence in retention
programming by the National Conference on Student Retention. In August 2001, the Consortium for
Student Retention Data Exchange awarded Loyola an Effective Retention Program award for the study, It
Takes a Campus to Graduate a Student.
To reach our goal of providing students with a quality science education, we must train students
in an interdisciplinary approach, offer research opportunities to a larger and more diverse group of
undergraduates, upgrade our laboratory infrastructure, and increase exposure and appreciation for science
among middle-school girls. Loyola University New Orleans requests a grant of $1,167,722 to develop
the following four-part program: 1) The Research Scholars Program, 2), The Faculty Development
Program, 3) The Curriculum, Equipment, and Laboratory Program, and 4) The Outreach Program.
II. THE PROGRAM
A. THE RESEARCH SCHOLARS PROGRAM
We propose to take advantage of our long and successful tradition of involving undergraduates in
original research by establishing the Research Scholars Program, which will enable Loyola to provide
sustained research opportunities and mentoring to a greater number and more diverse group of students.
Loyola will provide opportunities for up to 35 students to engage in a long-term, significant research
experience. Although not specifically targeted to minorities or women, 86% of our students completing
Biology Honors, our intensive, long-term research program, over the last five years have been women and
16% are minorities traditionally under-represented in the sciences (African-American, Hispanic or Native
American). We expect that funding from the HHMI will have a significant impact on encouraging
exceptional women and minority students to participate in research at Loyola and to undertake future
careers in biomedicine.
Student interest in undergraduate research is high and involving undergraduates in research
is central to the Department of Biological Sciences. As a department, we are committed to
undergraduate research because we have seen first-hand that students gain a deeper understanding
11
of scientific concepts in research than can be gained solely from coursework. In research, students
fully participate in the scientific process, and they develop a range of valuable skills as well as
knowledge in the laboratory, including critical thinking, the ability to collaborate with others on
long-term projects, the ability to analyze and critique the scientific literature, and to communicate
scientific concepts in oral and written form.
Loyola’s biology undergraduates are involved in a wide variety of research projects,
including population genetics studies of Chagas’ disease vectors with colleagues in Guatemala;
functional morphology of stream fishes and ecology using video-based image analysis and
multivariate statistics; population genetics of exotic, invasive plant species using RAPD-PCR and
isoenzyme analyses; development and regeneration in chick limbs using molecular techniques and
cell culture; field work on wetland conservation along the southeastern Louisiana coast; and
biochemical, molecular, and cellular techniques to study a viral protein implicated in human
leukemia, among others.
Several activities and programs support students in research including the Department of Biological
Sciences Honors Program, weekly laboratory and journal club meetings in several faculty laboratories,
and a bi-weekly Faculty Research Seminar Series. In addition to the University Honors Program, the
department offers a six-credit, research-based honors program whereby students write a research
proposal, conduct original research over a period of two years, write a thesis, and present their research at
the department’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Over the last five years, 56 students have
presented their results at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Students often partially fund their
research by submitting their proposals to internal and external funding agencies and have received support
from the American Heart Association, the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans, the Council on
Undergraduate Research, Sigma Xi, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Louisiana
Independent Colleges Foundation, among others. The department also offers a bi-weekly Faculty
Research Seminar Series, which brings approximately 15 scholars to campus each year. Students
12
regularly attend the Faculty Research Seminar Series, which alternates with our Careers in Biology
seminar series for undergraduates.
In spite of our success supporting student researchers, we are limited in the number of students to
whom we can offer this opportunity. Loyola has an endowed fund designated to support undergraduate
research, but it does not meet the demand of the rising number of students seeking to conduct research.
Many students are unable to conduct research because they must work during the summer and academic
year to support their college education. With Loyola’s capital campaign, we will seek funding to
strengthen the endowment for undergraduate research in the sciences.
Funding from the HHMI will enhance and expand our already successful research program for
undergraduate students. Enthusiasm for this program is high and the number of students who wish to
conduct research grows each year. The Research Scholars will be required to complete the equivalent of
our Biology Honors Program; that is, write a grant proposal, conduct independent research, write a thesis,
and make a presentation at our Undergraduate Research Symposium. Our research symposium is
scheduled before the regional Tri-Beta Biology Honors Convention to provide the students with
experience presenting their research. Students will present their results at a national or international
scientific meeting. The Research Scholars will participate in a weekly journal club and student research
seminar series with a faculty member in attendance. In addition, as a service learning component, the
Research Scholars will serve as mentors to middle school girls in an annual science program, as described
in our outreach section.
Applicants to the Research Scholars Program must be declared science or mathematics majors
and have attained a minimum GPA of 3.0 in science and mathematics courses. We have found that many
of our most outstanding and gifted research students fall within this range of GPA performance in their
early years. Students who wish to participate in the Research Scholars Program will be required to
develop a research proposal during the spring semester of their sophomore year, with the guidance of a
faculty member, for research in that faculty member’s or in one of several off-campus laboratories. These
research proposals will be reviewed by a committee, which will consist of three faculty members the first
13
year, and thereafter will consist of three faculty plus two previously funded Research Scholars. Proposals
will be evaluated based on the soundness of the science, the demonstrated understanding of the project by
the student, the credentials of the student, the likelihood of successful completion of the project, and the
degree to which the project is collaborative and interdisciplinary. Grant awards will be announced in
spring of the student’s sophomore year. The Research Scholars will conduct 10 weeks of full-time
research during summers following their sophomore and junior years, and during the junior and senior
academic years. The Research Scholars will be provided with a summer research stipend, housing during
their summer research, an academic year stipend, supply monies, and support for travel to a national or
international meeting to present their research results. In addition, each year an outstanding thesis will be
selected and the author awarded a small prize.
Increasingly to succeed in biomedical research, investigators must draw on tools and knowledge
from many disciplines. As a result, our research is increasingly collaborative and interdisciplinary. Loyola
faculty in the departments of Math and Computer Science, Physics and Chemistry, many of whom have
specific interdisciplinary training, have expressed a strong interest in engaging biology students in
research projects. Students from other departments may also be Research Scholars if they are involved in
collaborative research with biology and the students may rotate between labs, such as spending one year
in a biology lab and one year in a chemistry lab or a summer in the biology department at Loyola and a
summer in a collaborator’s lab in Guatemala.
Students will be informed about the Research Scholars Program during freshman orientation so
that they may consider undergraduate research at an early stage in their college career. The program will
be advertised at bi-annual departmental assemblies, during the department’s career and research seminars,
as well as through announcements in our courses and on the Loyola University New Orleans and
Department of Biological Sciences web pages.
Studies have shown that students remain and thrive in the sciences when they feel connected to a
community of learners and that mentoring is especially important in retaining women and minorities in
14
science.3 From our experience, it is evident that students who develop a relationship with a faculty mentor
have a more productive and enriching research experience. At Loyola, the mentoring relationship between
research students and faculty results in integrating students into a scholarly community that guides
students as in all aspects of the scientific process and professional development, and affirms students as
they participate in research. The Research Scholars will be paired with a faculty mentor in order to
provide them with the most supportive and productive learning environment.
B. THE FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
To enhance our undergraduate science education program, we propose to conduct a series of
faculty development workshops concerned with the latest research on interdisciplinary pedagogy for our
science and mathematics faculty, and to hire two new faculty members who will have specific duties
related to the implementation of interdisciplinary curricula. We will hire a Ph.D. biologist, who will assist
as the department redesigns the non-majors introductory biology course. Loyola will fund this position
following completion of the grant and funds from the HHMI will allow us to offer a competitive start-up
package to attract a highly qualified candidate with specific interdisciplinary and pedagogical training. In
addition, we request funds for a Masters or Ph.D. level biologist who will provide leadership for our core
biology laboratories and develop a peer mentoring program for our laboratory student assistants.
We propose to conduct a series of four, one-day workshops over a period of two years for the
science and mathematics faculty. This will provide faculty with knowledge of pedagogies that strengthen
student learning, essential to success in implementing an interdisciplinary science curriculum for
undergraduate students at Loyola.
In the first two workshops, an external consultant, identified through Project Kaleidoscope, will
guide us through best practices in developing investigative and interdisciplinary science curricula. These
workshops will address interdisciplinary teaching methods to integrate our undergraduate science courses
and laboratories. The third workshop will address methods to better assess student learning in new
3 Bio 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists (2002) National Research Council.
15
interdisciplinary courses. For the fourth workshop, the consultant will assist faculty in evaluating the
effectiveness of interdisciplinary curricular changes.
Faculty will apply to participate in the workshops and will bring knowledge gained from the
workshops to their departments. As evidence of the university’s commitment to this effort, the College of
Arts and Sciences has agreed to provide half of the cost of the stipends for faculty participation in the
workshops.
We will hire a tenure-track Ph.D. biologist with skills in interdisciplinary pedagogy, who will
assist as the department redesigns the non-majors introductory science curriculum. We will redesign the
introductory non-majors science course to be an interdisciplinary, hands-on, laboratory-based course that
challenges students’ understanding of science and improves their scientific literacy. We envision that the
new faculty position will also be an important resource for our colleagues in other science departments as
we implement more discovery-based learning.
Funds from the HHMI will provide start-up monies to equip the new faculty’s laboratory and
provide for a course release to allow this person time to work with the department in developing a one
semester, interdisciplinary, introductory science course for non-science majors. Funds are also requested
for an annual faculty development workshop for this faculty member. As evidence of the university’s
commitment, Loyola has agreed to provide the salary and benefits to hire this person and to reduce their
teaching load from the contracted four to three courses per semester to allow the individual time to
establish his/her research and teaching. Loyola will fund participation in a research conference of the
faculty member’s choice each year as well as a single course release in preparation for the faculty
member’s fourth year tenure review.
To invigorate our core laboratories, we propose to hire a Masters or Ph.D. level, non-tenure track
instructor who will serve as a versatile resource person for biology’s core laboratories. Hiring a new
faculty member whose primary focus is improving the laboratories for biology majors will be an asset to
our department as we develop an interdisciplinary approach to our teaching laboratories. This new
faculty member will revise biology’s core laboratory manuals to reflect an interdisciplinary focus, teach at
16
least one laboratory section each semester, coordinate and maintain the core biology laboratories, train
student assistants, and develop a peer mentoring program. Salary monies are requested from the HHMI to
support this 11-month position and to allow the instructor to participate in an annual laboratory-teaching
workshop at the Association for Biology Laboratory Education. The funding from HHMI will establish
this position, which will be continued by Loyola following completion of the grant.
C. THE CURRICULUM, EQUIPMENT, AND LABORATORY PROGRAM
The goal of the Curriculum, Equipment, and Laboratory Program is to enrich our curriculum in the
life sciences by introducing interdisciplinary modules, interdisciplinary courses and course sequences, a
new interdisciplinary major, and to update our laboratory teaching equipment to facilitate collaborative,
inquiry-driven learning. Faculty from the Department of Biological Sciences will work with colleagues
in the Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, and with the
Environmental Communications Program to develop the proposed curricula. These curricular changes and
improved teaching laboratories will help biology majors as well as non-majors to realize the connections
between their different science and mathematics courses.
Funding from the HHMI will provide for course replacement and summer stipends for faculty
to develop interdisciplinary modules and courses. To improve our laboratories, funds are requested
from the HHMI to support students serving as laboratory assistants and peer mentors. Funds are
also requested for updated laboratory equipment and computer software to use in an existing
computer laboratory. This will provide students with training in sophisticated laboratory equipment
for the new interdisciplinary curricula. Availability of state-of-the-art software will allow us to train
students in data analysis using statistics, mathematical algorithms and complex DNA analysis. The
equipment to be purchased is listed in the budget narrative.
The Department of Biological Sciences has regularly assessed its curriculum in response to new
information about the best practices in science teaching and the changing needs of our undergraduate
students. In 1990, the entire biology major’s curriculum, including core, elective and adjunct courses, was
revised and infused with then state-of-the-art technology and laboratories. At the time, the department
17
was graduating an average of 12 students from entering classes of 90. By 1994, retention had increased
such that the graduating class had grown to more than 30, with approximately the same number entering.
In 1998 a revision of the biology major’s core curriculum was approved by the College of Arts and
Sciences. The goal of this revision was to produce a more investigative core that would enhance student
learning and better prepare students for a challenging elective curriculum. In December 2000, the
department revised its elective curriculum. This revision introduced 11 new elective courses to provide
more contemporary and diverse elective offerings that complement the revised core.
The next step in departmental curricular reform is to make our courses more discovery-based,
quantitative and interdisciplinary. We have begun to make our courses more interdisciplinary. For
example, an earlier curricular revision added the option of choosing a Statistics course instead of Calculus
II and in collaboration with the mathematics faculty this course now has many connections to biology and
is called Statistical Inferences for Scientists. In addition, the core course, Biology of Organisms,
emphasizes the importance of applying computer and mathematical skills to biological problems and
includes a lab module that introduces students to standard data analysis, descriptive statistics and
graphing.
First, we propose to introduce an interdisciplinary approach to the life sciences by adding modules
from another discipline into individual courses. Science and mathematics faculty will pair to develop an
interdisciplinary module for a course. Two new interdisciplinary modules will be incorporated into
courses each year of the grant. For example, a Bioinformatics module which combines the use of the
Internet with mathematics and computer science methodology to address genomic questions could be
developed for a Cellular and Molecular Biology laboratory, and an Ecology laboratory module could
integrate chemistry and biology by correlating water chemistry with the distribution of flora and fauna.
By integrating modules into many of our biology courses as well as courses in the physical and
mathematical sciences, students will be continually challenged to draw upon knowledge and skills from
multiple disciplines.
18
Second, we propose to develop three interdisciplinary courses and course sequences that will
facilitate students’ understanding of the relationships between biology, mathematics, physics and
computer science as well as improve their ability to effectively communicate science. Funding from the
HHMI will accelerate our progress in reaching these goals. Funds will be used for course replacement to
allow biologists and colleagues in other disciplines with training in biology and interests in
interdisciplinary teaching the time to develop the courses. The proposed courses include the following:
• Physics for the Life Sciences. A two-semester physics sequence for the life sciences will replace
the current required two semester physics courses. This interdisciplinary physics sequence will
use examples from the life sciences to explain physical concepts, such as illustrating the concepts
of force and work using body mechanics. One of the several new texts available that support this
interdisciplinary approach will be selected. A physics laboratory with automated data acquisition
and computer simulation capabilities will accompany the course. Laboratory experiments will be
designed to illustrate fundamental physical concepts on biological or biomedical examples. Funds
from the HHMI will be used to purchase equipment to support this teaching laboratory.
• Integrated Mathematics/Computer Science. An Integrated Mathematics/Computer Science course
for the life sciences will address the need for broader mathematical training for future biologists.
We will create an integrated, two semester math sequence for life sciences students. As an initial
step, we will develop a one semester integrated course as a second math elective in lieu of
Statistical Inference for the Life Sciences or Calculus II. This new Integrated
Mathematics/Computer Science course will include topics such as linear algebra, dynamical
systems, probability and statistics, information and computation, and data structures. This course
will be project-oriented, based on real-world applications collected from Loyola science faculty.
The HHMI funds will support the purchase of software for this new interdisciplinary course,
including SPSS, Matlab, and Scientific Notebook to use in our existing computer laboratories.
• Communicating Science. To address the need for science majors to improve their ability to
successfully communicate scientific concepts, this course will be offered as an upper division
19
Common Curriculum course in the Department of Communications and we would encourage our
majors to take it. This course will emphasize the application and communication of scientific
knowledge to benefit local, national and international communities. The course in communicating
science will be a non-majors course in the Common Curriculum and will be of special interest to
science majors and students in Loyola’s environmental studies interdisciplinary minor program.
A proposal for a joint Biochemistry/Molecular Biology major is the result of increasing
interaction between the Biology and Chemistry Departments. In response to student demand and as a
result of increased faculty collaboration, our departments have developed a proposal for a joint
Biochemistry/Molecular Biology major. All the courses needed for this major are currently being taught
in our departments. This major will address the university’s goal of interdisciplinary interaction between
academic disciplines. Funds are requested to train students in state-of-the-art DNA analysis software,
DNAStar Lasergene, which will allow students to analyze DNA and protein sequences, including
sequence alignment, contig assembly, gene discovery, primer design, restriction mapping, and protein
structure prediction. The software also integrates BLAST and Entrez searching for easy sequence
downloading and comparisons.
Another aspect of developing a community in the sciences is to establish a space for science
students to collaborate with one another. To this end, Loyola will establish a Student Science Center,
which will provide students from all the sciences with a space in which to collaborate on class projects,
analyze data from undergraduate research projects, and research scientific literature. Funds are requested
from the HHMI to equip the center with computers and software for students to use in their research and
coursework. Loyola will maintain the center following the completion of the grant as evidence of its
commitment to community building in the sciences.
D. THE OUTREACH PROGRAM
We propose to offer an annual, discovery-based science camp for middle-school girls, which will
engage our Research Scholars and Loyola’s undergraduate elementary education students (pre-service
20
teachers) as mentors. The Biology faculty, in collaboration with other faculty at Loyola, the
undergraduate students, and community advisors, will develop an innovative science program geared
toward middle-school girls. We expect this program will excite middle-school age girls about science,
draw them closer to the Loyola community, and affirm undergraduate science and pre-service teachers in
the dynamic role of mentors.
Much has been written about the concern that during the middle-school years girls begin to lose
confidence and interest in science. Research suggests that middle school girls’ engagement with mentors
can significantly enhance their future career paths and improve self-confidence in regards to mathematics,
science and technology. 4 The program we propose will counter the trend of middle-school girls lack of
interest in science by nurturing their excitement and appreciation of science as well as developing the
expertise of future educators and biomedical researchers with discovery-based science.
We propose to offer an annual, discovery-based program that will encourage young girls to see
themselves as future scientists. Fifth to seventh grade girls will be recruited to participate in a weekend
science camp by virtue of their involvement with the local Girl Scout Council of Southeast Louisiana. We
propose to utilize the Girl Scouts because they have an infrastructure in place for recruiting girls and
targeting a broad diversity of girls from differing socio-economic, ethnic, or racial backgrounds.
Importantly, the Girl Scouts of the United States have identified “bridging girls to careers in science” as a
national priority.
The program will be inquiry-based and interdisciplinary, designed by Loyola’s biology faculty in
collaboration with faculty from mathematics and the natural sciences, Loyola’s Research Scholars, and in
partnership with the Girl Scouts Council of Southeast Louisiana. In addition to Loyola science and
mathematics faculty, key contributors to this program will include Ms. Sue Brown, Director of Teaching
Responsible Earth Education (T.R.E.E.), who will assist in developing learning exercises and in training
the undergraduate students to effectively mentor girls of this age group, and Dr. Beth Wee, a Tulane
4 Research on gender issues in the classroom, Kahle, J.B. & Meece, pages 542-557, J. in D.L. Gabel (Ed.), Handbook of research on science teaching and learning, 1994, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
21
University faculty member with a Ph.D. in the biological sciences and a strong background as a trained
Girl Scout adult leader. Dr. Beth Wee has extensive experience in leading discovery-based science
programs for girls of this age and will serve as our Science Camp Director.
Loyola’s science and mathematics faculty will partner with Ms. Brown and Dr. Wee to develop
investigational exercises for the program. For example, the science camp participants will collect samples
of invasive plants and run simple genetic experiments, such as DNA fingerprinting, to determine the
relatedness among different plants. Mathematical calculations will be used to determine the significance
of any differences observed. As a service-learning activity, the undergraduate mentors will facilitate the
learning exercises and reflect on their experience in a discussion session following the science camp.
The first year of the program will consist of developing age-appropriate, discovery based learning
exercises in the fall and implementing a pilot science camp in the spring with a limited number of
participants and mentors. The program will be evaluated and refined that following summer. In the
remaining three years of the grant, Loyola will host two, annual one-day camps impacting at least 215
girls and 108 undergraduate mentors.
This outreach program will be a contribution to the Department of Biological Sciences current
reform efforts that encourage science teachers to replace textbook science with experiential science. The
department’s discovery-based course for pre-service teachers, “Exploring the Natural World,” has
demonstrated that these students become excited about teaching science once they are empowered to
make connections between disciplines and to relate scientific discoveries to their own life experiences. A
goal of the outreach program is to influence a greater number of future K-12 teachers who will
subsequently influence their students with stimulating science. The future K-12 educators will gain
confidence teaching science to students with challenging, integrated laboratory exercises and will be
better prepared to encourage their future students in the classroom. The Department of Biological
Sciences will select pre-service teachers as participants in consultation with the Loyola University New
Orleans Department of Education and Counseling, with a special intent to recruit women and minority
22
students. Additionally, the program will encourage the Research Scholars to consider a career in teaching
and will further develop their understanding of scientific concepts.
Successful investigative exercises will be compiled into a booklet, which will be made available
to local middle-school teachers, nationally through our website, and presented at conferences.
The outreach program will continue after the completion of the HHMI grant as we build activities
into grant applications. Loyola has a history of success in funding such programs, as they uniquely reflect
the university’s commitment to the holistic education and formation of students.
III. PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
A. DIRECTOR
Dr. Patricia Dorn, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, will serve as Program Director.
Dr. Dorn was first introduced to the positive influence of funding from the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute upon undergraduate science education during her first faculty position at Hope College, where
funding from the HHMI allowed her to establish her research program on Chagas disease.
Dr. Dorn maintains an active research program, which has involved mentoring 20 undergraduate
students in her laboratory over the last 10 years, 63% of which have been minority students and 89%
female. Three of these are current students, and all of the remaining have advanced in careers in
biomedicine. Dr. Dorn has conducted collaborative research with colleagues in Guatemala for the past
eight years, including appropriate technology transfer. She has taught three workshops in Guatemala: the
theory and practice of PCR, Population Genetics and Taq polymerase isolation, and Scientific Writing.
She has hosted visiting researchers from Guatemala and Japan, and for training and collaborative work in
her laboratory.
At Loyola, Dr. Dorn teaches the core courses, majors’ electives, and a non-majors course,
including laboratories for the core and major elective courses. Dr. Dorn is active in two of the university’s
interdisciplinary minors, Women’s Studies and Latin American Studies, and with the Loyola-Mexico
exchange program.
23
Dr. Dorn has contributed significantly to service to the university, including two years as chair of
the Loyola Biever Guest Lecture Series, membership on the Service Learning Advisory Board and
Faculty Development Subcommittee, the College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Committee, the
University Honors Advisory Board, and the University Integrated Marketing Advisory Committee.
Additionally, she has served on the Louisiana Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers
and has presented workshops on active learning, advising, and teaching with technology. Dr. Dorn was
the on-site co-organizer for the first international Bolivian Studies Association conference and the
Association of Southeastern Biologists conference.
The director’s duties will include oversight of the entire program, including the budget, along
with a steering committee comprised of Dr. Donald Hauber, chair of the Department of Biological
Sciences and coordinator of the Research Scholars Program; Dr. Maureen Shuh, Assistant Professor of
Biological Sciences and coordinator of the Faculty Development Program; Dr. Aihua Li, Associate
Professor of Mathematics and coordinator of the Curriculum, Equipment and Laboratory Program; Dr.
James Wee, Professor of Biological Sciences and coordinator of the Outreach Program; Dr. Laurie
Joyner, Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and coordinator of
Assessment; and Dr. David Estes, Assistant Provost for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development. In
addition, a community member with expertise in middle school education will be added to the steering
committee to assist us with the outreach component. Dr. Dorn will also hire and supervise two half-time
administrative assistants, and will prepare the annual reports for the HHMI. Dr. Dorn will devote 33% of
her time in the spring semester and 100% of one month in the summer to directing the program. Funds
from the HHMI will provide for Dr. Dorn’s course replacement for the spring semester and one month of
summer salary are requested. The steering committee will make all decisions regarding the disbursement
of funds.
B. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS
The half-time administrative assistant will have clerical and logistical support duties that assist each
of the program components. The half-time assessment assistant will be responsible for establishing and
24
maintaining our Howard Hughes web page on the biology department’s website, as well as providing
support for assessment and dissemination.
C. ASSESSMENT
We will conduct both internal and external evaluations to provide systematic data and analysis
regarding the implementation and effectiveness of the proposed program. We will be assisted in our
evaluations by Dr. Laurie Joyner, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences, and a sociologist with expertise in
assessment.
The focus of the internal evaluation will be on gathering detailed records of the activities of the
faculty, undergraduate, and middle-school students who participate in different components of the
program. In addition, the director and coordinators of the component parts will use annual surveys and
interviews to assess participant satisfaction and solicit feedback geared toward program improvement.
The internal evaluation will also involve developing a comprehensive tracking strategy to collect
information and data on various constituent groups impacted by the HHMI program.
The external review team will be comprised of three evaluators, including a research-active
predominantly undergraduate institution (PUI), identified through the Council on Undergraduate
Research; a PUI with expertise in interdisciplinary science curricula, identified through Project
Kaleidoscope; and a middle school science educator/administrator active in educational reform initiatives,
identified through Loyola’s Office of Service Learning, the latter to assess the outreach program. The
evaluators will visit Loyola at the beginning of the granting period to evaluate our plans for assessment;
thereafter, the evaluators will visit Loyola annually to gather data, interview personnel, and provide
feedback on progress toward goals.
The focus of the external evaluation will be to assess the outcomes of the overall initiative with a
specific emphasis on evaluating the quality of curricular reform and its connection to improved student
learning outcomes. Based on the external evaluators assessment, aspects of the program that require
revision will be made. During each of the evaluation periods, the review team will meet with the program
coordinators, the steering committee, college administrators, students involved in the program, science
25
faculty, and participating Science Camp personnel. The review team will provide a written report of their
assessment of the implementation and effectiveness of the program to the director, who will forward the
report to the HHMI.
The expansion of undergraduate research opportunities will be monitored by tracking students
participating in undergraduate research before and after implementation of the Research Scholars
Program. Self-reported G.P.A. and learning outcomes of students who are actively engaged in
collaborative research versus those not engaged in research will be solicited by annual surveys. Analysis
of this data, along with assessment of student learning will allow us to explore whether students who are
actively engaged in research and more involved in the department are more likely to perform better
academically, persist over time, and progress to academic and professional careers in biomedicine. Those
students from the Research Scholars Program who pursue graduate study will be interviewed as graduate
students to assess the impact of this program on their development in the field of biomedicine.
Faculty participating in development workshops will be surveyed immediately after the workshop
to assess their satisfaction with its usefulness in improving their teaching and assessment of student
learning. In addition, faculty will submit revised syllabi, highlighting any changes as a result of the
workshops, and will be surveyed in the final year of the grant about the impact of the workshops on their
teaching and assessment of student learning.
The effectiveness of the addition of a new tenure-track, Ph.D. faculty member will be
documented by the approval and institutionalization of a new, investigational, interdisciplinary, non-
majors biology course by the appropriate curriculum committees. The effectiveness of the new instructor
will be documented by the number and quality of new investigative laboratory exercises in our core
biology laboratories. Student satisfaction and self-reported learning outcomes will also be surveyed in the
new courses and compared to traditionally taught introductory courses for non-majors and core
laboratories.
An external consultant will assess the curricular reforms by comparing “reform” and “regular”
sections or “pre” and “post” reform courses to determine whether there is evidence that the reforms are
26
enhancing student engagement, deepening the scientific literacy of students, and improving learning
outcomes.
Surveys will be collected from middle-school girls at the start of each outreach science camp and
immediately following the camp to provide feedback to improve the program. The middle-school
students’ surveys will include questions that assess their opinion as to whether this discovery-based
approach to science was encouraging, neutral, or discouraging of their further science studies. Surveys of
the undergraduate mentors and middle-school participants will assess the impact of the outreach program
on their understanding of scientific principles, decision-making regarding career choice, and confidence
in their participation in discovery-based science. The external consultant will review the outreach
program through interviews with selected personnel.
As further assessment of the Howard Hughes Program at Loyola, a comprehensive alumni survey
of the Research Scholars, as well as the pre-service teachers participating in the outreach program, will be
conducted focusing on satisfaction with the science curriculum, the quality of advising, graduation rates,
scores on standardized exams, acceptance, entrance, and completion of graduate and/or professional
school, and career plans. Annual follow-up surveys will result in the creation of a historical database of
all undergraduate students participating in Loyola’s Howard Hughes Program.
D. DISSEMINATION
We believe that each component of this program can serve as a model for other institutions
seeking to broaden access and increase opportunities for undergraduate science students in research, to
integrate science curricula and laboratories, to implement an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and
research among undergraduate science faculty, and to partner with middle-school educators and students
in discovery-driven science.
Information and results from the Howard Hughes Program will be disseminated by Loyola
faculty involved in the initiative through their participation in national teaching and learning conferences
and the teaching subsections of their disciplinary meetings. Service-learning components of the program
will be presented at the National Conference for Service Learning Research, the national Campus
27
Compact conference, the National Society for Experiential Education Conference, and the Gulf South
Service Learning Summit. Faculty will also publish articles in appropriate journals and results from our
efforts will be presented at national meetings of the Council on Undergraduate Education.
Successful investigative exercises developed to engage middle school girls in science will be
compiled, distributed to groups working with middle-school aged children, and made available through
our HHMI web page, linked to our departmental web page.
All HHMI sponsored activities will be described on our Howard Hughes web page and materials
developed, such as interdisciplinary modules, will be made available on this web page as well as on
appropriate websites. Service learning activities will be described on Loyola’s Office of Service Learning
website and syllabi posted on the Campus Compact website.
28