ABLE News and Notes

Marielle Hoefnagels, Labstracts Editor
University of Oklahoma
hoefnagels@ou.edu

NSF-Sponsored DNA Microarray Workshops for Summer 2005

Faculty are sought for NSF-sponsored 2005 summer DNA microarray workshops to be held from July 27 to August 1, 2005 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

ORGANIZERS: Dr. A. Malcolm Campbell (Davidson College), Dr. Edison R. Fowlks (Hampton University), and members of the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT).

DATES: We will offer two complete workshops - half wet lab/half dry lab. Workshop #1 will run July 27 - July 31, and workshop #2 will run July 28 - August 1.

PURPOSE: The primary goal of these workshops is to provide genomic training to faculty teaching high proportions of African American and Native American students, as well as faculty of color. However, GCAT and the NSF do not set quotas so we will accept all applications and make our selection based on criteria published with the application materials.

VENUE: These workshops will be held on the Morehouse campus in Atlanta.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES: The workshops will provide background information and readings on microarrays; software training; hands-on experience with data analysis; and wet-lab experiences with DNA microarray probe production and hybridization.

EXPECTED OUTCOME: Workshop participants are expected to integrate microarray technology into their courses or student-research. Provide opportunities for undergraduates to work with real DNA microarray data so they can discover first hand how biology is an informational science, and organisms are complex systems.

COST: All expenses will be paid with one condition: You have to pay your own transportation up front, but this expense will be reimbursed up to $500.00 IF you submit a plan of action to incorporate what you have learned into your curriculum (course work and/student research) and a copy of your travel receipts. If you cannot afford to pay for the upfront airfare, we will accept petitions for exemption from this conditional funding.

SELECTION CRITERIA: Participants will be selected primarily from applicants with an effort to maximize the impact on faculty who teach a high proportion of African and Native American students.

MAIL APPLICATIONS TO:
Dr. Edison R. Fowlks
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
101 DuPont Hall
Hampton University
Hampton, VA 23668
or email edison.fowlks@hamptonu.edu or macampbell@davidson.edu

APPLICATION DUE DATE: APRIL 15, 2005

Wanted: Contributions to Labstracts

Labstracts is a forum for you, the members of ABLE, to share what you know about biology laboratory education. Labstracts relies on you for ideas and contributions. If you look at this issue, you will see that we have all sorts of items -- from short news clips to longer articles. Any and all submissions are warmly welcomed.

What are your favorite ideas about teaching? What are your problems? What would you like to know about how your colleagues teach? Do you have ideas for articles, even if you don't have time to write one yourself?

If you want to submit an article, or just an idea for an article, please contact me at hoefnagels@ou.edu. If you are submitting an article, please include information about yourself and a digital photograph (if possible) to include with the article. Photos of students or equipment "in action" are, of course, also always welcome. The deadline for the Fall 2005 issue will be around mid-September.

Upcoming Meetings

Here is a short list of upcoming meetings that might interest ABLE members. If you know of others that should be included, please email me.

ABLE (Association for Biology Laboratory Education): The 2005 annual meeting will be from June 21-25, 2005, at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.

ACUBE (Association of College and University Biology Educators): The 49th Annual Meeting, Interdisciplinary Explorations, will be held October 13-15, 2005 at Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

AIBS (American Institute of Biological Sciences): AIBS will not be holding an Annual Meeting in 2005.

CUR (Council on Undergraduate Research): The 11th National Conference will be at DePauw University, June 24-27, 2006. If you can't wait that long, you can visit the CUR dialog April 17-19, 2005 at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, VA, or the CUR business meeting hosted by Wabash College June 22-25, 2005.

NABT (National Association of Biology Teachers): The 2005 annual meeting will be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 5-8, 2005.

NCUR (National Conferences on Undergraduate Research): The 2005 annual meeting will be March 17-19 at Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University.

NSTA (National Science Teachers Association): The 2005 annual convention will be in Dallas from March 31 - April 3, 2005.

Project Kaleidoscope is devoted to undergraduate education in mathematics, engineering, and science. At this writing, the website is not operating.