Evolution and Revolution in STEM Education

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Teaching Cancer Biology Through a Lens of Social Justice

The biology classroom is not separate from the greater context of society; social issues can and should be presented in connection with the content. Here we present an example of antiracist teaching using the molecular/cellular biology of cancer in an introductory biology course as a topic through which to address historic racial disparities. Through this lesson, students analyzed biological science through the lens of social justice, specifically looking at disparities of cancer incidence with ties to health outcomes and environmental racism. The synchronous activity begins with personal tie-ins to the broader subject of cancer and then dives into the molecular regulation involved in creating cancerous phenotypes. Cancer biology is explored using an active-learning style based in process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) tactics. Multiple levels of assessments pushed students to grapple with data about racial health disparities and make explicit connections between these data and molecular mechanisms of cancer formation. This paper provides activity worksheets, an activity timeline, an example of assessment items, and teacher preparation for other instructors who want to emulate this lesson either directly or as an example of adjusting other science topics towards this lens. For those teaching in different topics, we offer advice and examples to help instructors to include social justice lenses into their science teaching.

Primary image: Malignant History. Artwork by Heidi-Marie Wiggins and Jeannette Takashima.

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Developing Decolonial Consciousness in Biology Students Through Critical Reflection Assignments

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Getting Started with Universal Design for Learning

Three resources for faculty interested in an introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

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STEM OER Accessibility Framework and Guidebook

This framework, developed by ISKME in partnership with SERC, provides a practical reference for curators and authors of STEM OER, with 23 accessibility criteria, or elements, to reference as they curate, design and adapt materials to be accessible.

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QUBES postdoc at Radford University

BioQUEST Contact: Jeremy Wojdak

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Greenhouse Manager / Instructor at Radford University

BioQUEST Contact: Tara Pelletier

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Wetlands Research Cluster Hire – Three Assistant Professors

We are seeking two plant biologists and one invertebrate biologists with a research focus on wetlands.  Please talk with Holly Gaff if you are interested or want more information. Please pass this ad to anyone you know on the market for these kinds of positions!

BioQUEST Contact: Holly Gaff

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Environmental Arts or Humanities TT position - Bates college

"We seek a scholar or scholar/practitioner in cultural studies, literature, or performing/studio arts who is attentive to hierarchies of power and privilege and can offer cross-cultural and/or transnational perspectives on environmental traditions. Fields and research approaches are open, but could include: critical race theory, ecocriticism and nature writing, ecofeminism/feminist environmentalism, energy humanities, indigenous and post-colonial/decolonial/decolonizing environmentalisms, posthumanism and animal studies, and queer ecologies. Applicants with a demonstrated record of working successfully with a diversity of students, including underrepresented and marginalized populations, are encouraged to apply."

BioQUEST Contact: Carrie Diaz Eaton

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Part-time Faculty positions at Montgomery College, MD

Montgomery College, in Maryland, is a three-campus community college serving over 50,000 students represented from more than 160 countries. If you are interested to teach Biology in a diverse community college environment, look out for part-time faculty announcements in the provided link! Job positions will be advertised about two months before the start of a semester.

BioQUEST Contact: Vedham Karpakakunjaram

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Data Science Health Innovation Fellow (6028U) Job #27188

In 2019, UC Berkeley, UCSF, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Janssen Research & Development came together to establish the Data Science Health Innovation Fellowship Program, to bring together experienced data scientists with academic and industry researchers, to facilitate collaboration among scientists, engineers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs, to tackle complex problems in health and patient care and to accelerate innovation in healthcare through data-driven approaches.

This fellowship program offers a two-year research and entrepreneurial opportunity for seasoned data science professionals to apply computer science, data science, data engineering, and computational statistics research and development principles, along with relevant domain science knowledge, to complex problems and datasets, to advance understanding of health and improve patient care by providing meaningful clinical insights. The fellowship program will recruit serial cohorts of up to five outstanding data scientists per year from industry and academia. We are seeking applications from a wide range of backgrounds and with specializations across the burgeoning field of data science, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, developing and optimizing methodologies, software, and tools while working with various large datasets. The datasets Fellows have worked with may be healthcare related, such as electronic medical records, clinical notes, medical images, high-content microscopy and ‘omics, or should have comparable levels of scale and complexity. Fellows will receive training, support, and guidance from domain science and medical experts, including a mentor from each of the three collaborating organizations. The primary responsibility of the Fellows is to successfully identify and conduct interdisciplinary data-intensive research related to healthcare and use computational and data science technology as a tool to accomplish the aims of the research. 

BioQUEST Contact: Perot Saelao

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Lecture-track, Emory Chemistry Department

We seek candidates with a Ph.D. in Chemistry who have a strong commitment to pedagogy and a specific interest in teaching undergraduate lecture and laboratory courses with a preference for biomolecular chemistry. Applicants with prior teaching experience are encouraged to apply. More information is available in the attached link. To ensure full consideration, all materials should be received by October 15, 2019.

BioQUEST Contact: Pat Marsteller

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Lecture-Track, Emory Biology Department

We seek candidates with a Ph.D. in the biological sciences and a strong commitment to pedagogy and a specific interest in teaching and advising undergraduates. Applicants having prior experience with evidence-based teaching practices are encouraged to apply; postdoctoral experience is preferred. More information is in the attached PDF. Review of applications will begin November 1, 2019

BioQUEST Contact: Pat Marsteller

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Hayley Orndorf onto Job Postings

Greetings from Robin Greenler

BioQUEST’s 30th celebration tonight has me thinking of you all.  I would so love to be there tonight —I frequently think of you, Ethel.  I am also thinking of our dear friend Patti Soderbergh and wish she was around to be part of the celebrations.

At any rate, I hope you have a good celebration tonight—you have a lot to be proud of in that consortium.

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Sam S Donovan onto 30 Years of BioQUEST

BioQUEST and Me

I went to my first BioQUEST workshop in 1991.  As for many people, it was a transforming experience.  The three p's became, and remain, important elements in my teaching.  I also made a number of very good friends that year, Ethel Stanley among them.  I wish I could be there to celebrate this anniversary.  It is a wonderful tribute to its nurturers that it is still such a vibrant organization. 

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Maura C. Flannery onto 30 Years of BioQUEST

BioQUEST and the 3P's: People, people, people

Back in the early days, in 1989-1991, I had the pleasure of working in BioQUEST with the brilliant, wonderful and irrepressible Patti Soderberg.  BioQUEST was a small operation, Patti and I wore more hats than I can count, from coffee maker to workshop facilitator.  On the fateful day that we needed to come up with an official titles to satisfy some long forgotten piece of official business, we decided that we each wanted our title to be BioQUEST Co-Empress.  And so we decreed. 

Those were exciting days, BioQUEST was small, computers were huge, and simulations were rudimentary.  Nils Pearson developed a hypercard stack—a series of digital pages (black and white, of course) that would link from one to another in the order that the user desired!  So rather than in a linear fashion, the user could explore according to their own interests!  The content was actually pretty sophisticated conceptually, but, well, let’s say the hypercard stack has been surpassed technologically!

But central for me was the incredible mentorship provided me by John Jungck in those years.  When I first came to Beloit in 1989 I was barely older than the Beloit College students I was teaching.  And John Jungck was an incredible mentor as I sorted out my career paths, professional passions, gifts, talents, and growing edges.  I have no question that the following 25 years that I have spent in science education reform pushing for engaged, active, user-directed, constructivist, discovery-oriented science education, (and feel free to add any more adjectives form the last decades of science education reform), I have no doubt that my efforts were fundamentally molded by BioQUEST broadly and John specifically.  To John, my deep gratitude.

I came back and rejoined the fold in 2000-2005 and then I was greeted by another great mind and force of spirit in Ethel Stanley.  Wow, Ethel taught me a lot about ways to think, move through and be in the world.  Another formative relationship. Ethel, you never cease to amaze!

There were many more wonderful and inspiring people who have made up BioQUEST, too many to name.  It was always a challenge to describe to people what BioQUEST was, but really it is not complicated.  BioQUEST has always been, first and foremost, a community of inspired, passionate, bright people, with creative visions, who are committed to making a difference in science and education.  And while substantial “products” have certainly been developed, always the people are where it has started.  So, to all the BioQUEST people, long-timers and new, thank-you for carrying on the vision.

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Robin McClure Greenler onto 30 Years of BioQUEST

My First BioQUEST Workshop (Stacey Kiser)

I showed up to my first BioQUEST workshop in 1999. I thought I was there to borrow all the good curriculum ideas I could. I never dreamed I would meet Maura Flannery and share a teaching philosophy. Maura wrote about her experience and this made me a BQ Lifer.

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Stacey Kiser onto 30 Years of BioQUEST

My First BioQUEST Workshop (Stacey Kiser)

I showed up to my first BioQUEST workshop in 1999. I thought I was there to borrow all the good curriculum ideas I could. I never dreamed I would meet Maura Flannery and share a teaching philosophy. Maura wrote about her experience and this made me a BQ Lifer.

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Stacey Kiser onto 30 Years of BioQUEST

Always Cutting Edge

Pat, Ethel, and Tony demonstrate the super-cool 3D glasses for the 3D demonstration at the University of Delaware (2015).

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Stacey Kiser onto 30 Years of BioQUEST

Biology and Math Art

Keep your eyes out for cool biology/math art. Add your photos here!

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Stacey Kiser onto 30 Years of BioQUEST

Group Photos Over the Years

2015 - Harvey Mudd

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Stacey Kiser onto 30 Years of BioQUEST