Jim Hoerter, Project Coordinator, Ferris State University
Mary Allen, Wellesley College
Lisa Baird, University of San Diego
Sibdas Ghosh, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Kathryn Goddard, Ursinus College
J.K. Haynes, Morehouse College
Elaine Hoagland, CUR National Executive Officer
Kipp Kruse, Eastern Illinois University
Michael Tannenbaum, Marist College

Biology Division Receives $200,000 Grant from NSF>

Congratulations to CUR's Biology Division for receiving $200,000 from NSF's College Curriculum Development Program. Jim Hoerter, of Ferris State University, was the lead writer behind this proposal and was assisted by Co-PI's including Mary Allen, Lisa Baird, J.K. Haynes, and John Stevens. Freshman biology laboratories will receive the benefits of this award since it will provide funding for investigative laboratory experiments. The three-year program will feature a series of small conferences and workshops, similar in format to the new CUR Institutes. A third benefit of this funding is the establishment of a CUR Web Page.

To introduce the laboratory experiments, CUR's Biology Division will provide leadership in organizing Research Link - a national center for developing and exchanging information on research based laboratories for introductory biology. Research Link will establish a formal network of undergraduate students and faculty. This network will permit collaboration in designing experiments, sharing data and interpreting results via a Worldwide Web Homepage.

An obstacle preventing the introduction of research-based labs has been the lack of a national clearing house continuously accessible to faculty. This new national center would provide models of experimental systems in field-tested laboratories. These models can then be easily incorporated into a general biology lab that will allow students to think and act like scientists during a three to four-week lab session. Research Link will also permit faculty to communicate directly with authors of field-tested labs, work out problems and answer inquiries.

Through a workshop series, participants will select, develop and disseminate a group of field-tested Research Cores. Each core will consist of a collection of research-based labs in genetics, cell biology, plant and animal physiology, ecology/behavior, and evolution. Faculty can integrate these labs into introductory biology courses to involve students. Projects will be guided by the principle that three to four weeks of any standard, general biology lab should focus on teaching the nature of science and introducing students to the thought process and methods of science (formulating and testing hypotheses, designing and conducting experiments, analyzing and interpreting data and communicating results).

Again, congratulations to CUR's Biology Division for pursuing this new initiative!