About Us
The CRISPR in the Classroom Network consists of educators with varying levels of experience integrating CRISPR-Cas into their courses. Through funding from the National Science Foundation (RCN-UBE #2120417: Bringing CRISPR-Cas9 Technologies to the Undergraduate Classroom: An Undergraduate Instructors’ Network), the CRISPR in the Classroom Network is facilitating hands-on CRISPR-Cas workshops and providing educators with resources and mentoring.
STEERING COMMITTEE
Donna Pattison: University of Houston (Houston, Texas) (Principal Investigator)
Tiffany Hoage: CRISPRIN Classrooms LLC and University of Wisconsin - Stout (Menomonie, WI) (Co-Principal Investigator)
Michael Wolyniak: Hampden-Sydney College (Hampden Sydney, VA) (Co-Principal Investigator)
Dawn Carter: Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
Anil Challa: Shiv Nadar University (Noida, India) and University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL)
Latanya Hammonds-Odie: Georgia-Gwinnett College (Lawrenceville, GA)
Sara Olson: Pomona College (Claremont, CA)
Jay Pieczynski: Rollins College (Winter Park, FL)
Nicholas Ruppel: Randolph-Macon College (Ashland, VA)
Maria [Marisol] Santisteban: University of North Carolina - Pembroke (Pembroke, NC)
HISTORY OF THE NETWORK
In 2017, Dr. Anil Challa and Dr. Michael Wolyniak facilitated a hands-on CRISPR workshop. The workshop followed a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) developed by Dr. Challa using zebrafish as a model organism. From the workshop, Drs. Challa and Wolyniak recognized an unmet need for practical ways to introduce CRISPR-Cas into undergraduate classrooms. With this in mind, Drs. Challa and Wolyniak obtained National Science Foundation funding to develop multi-day CRISPR workshops for educators in 2018 and 2019 (NSF Award #s 1823595 and 1916486). Through these workshops and their professional contacts, Drs. Challa and Wolyniak brought together educators from diverse backgrounds and model systems. Since then, several participants from those workshops have been working collaboratively with Drs. Challa and Wolyniak to find innovative ways to integrate CRISPR-Cas into the classroom.