NSF Award
1443406
An award has been made to Simmons College in Boston, MA and Carthage College in Kenosha, WI to pilot a summer "boot camp" in synthetic biology. This award will support training of eight students at each site during the summer of 2015. Students trained in the program will gain skills in lab research, develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, understand the process of science, and be able to communicate their research results to their peers and the general public. Students will have an opportunity to present their results at a national conference. Students from schools with limited opportunities for research and from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.<br/><br/>This collaborative proposal will test the effectiveness of intensive instruction in the interdisciplinary area of synthetic biology and ask if the boot camp prepares students to participate in future research experiences in synthetic biology. The other goal of this proposal is to determine if a dispersed, collaborative effort between two primarily undergraduate institutions can serve as a model for a future REU Sites proposal. The focus of the boot camp will be lecture, computer lab and "wet-lab" research to design genetic circuits in living organisms. The PIs participated in a GCAT Synthetic Biology workshop during the summer of 2013, and they will model their program after this workshop. The main research question will be to design organisms that can sense hydrocarbon contaminants in water from different sources. During the four week program, students will participate virtually in activities including bio-ethics, lab meetings, journal clubs, and career opportunities. At the end of the program, students will present their research in a virtual poster session.<br/><br/>A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU programs funded by the Division of Biological Infrastructure (Directorate for Biological Sciences) will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. Students are required to be tracked after the program and must respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information is available by contacting either of the PIs, Dr. Jennifer Roecklein-Canfield (at jennifer.canfield@simmons.edu) or Dr. Deborah Tobiason (at dtobiason@carthage.edu).
