The focus of BIO SIGMAA is on the pedagogy of mathematical and computational biology at the undergraduate level. This includes the support of curriculum development, faculty development, and undergraduate research in those fields. The purpose of BIO SIGMAA is to support those activities that will enhance the exchange of ideas and access to educational opportunities among undergraduates and undergraduate faculty in the fields of mathematical and computational biology.

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of scientists founded in 1915 to promote ecological science by improving communication among ecologists; raise the public’s level of awareness of the importance of ecological science; increase the resources available for the conduct of ecological science; and ensure the appropriate use of ecological science in environmental decision making by enhancing communication between the ecological community and policy-makers.

The Botanical Society of America (BSA) promotes botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into all aspects of plants and their interactions within the biosphere.

Data Nuggets contain activities that bring real scientific data into the classroom, guiding students through the entire process of science while building their quantitative abilities.

BioInteractive provides free multimedia resources, including apps, animations, videos, interactives and virtual labs, supplemented by teacher guides and classroom activities. Recently, BioInteractive has developed quantitative and data-centric resources, including statistics, data manipulation, and graph generation and interpretation activities. Explore videos of scientific stories with interviews and discussions with actual scientists, or the Holiday lectures by active research scientists.

The mission of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is to enable understanding and forecasting of the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on continental-scale ecology – by providing infrastructure and consistent methodologies to support research and education in these areas.

NIMBioS brings together researchers from around the world to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to investigate solutions to basic and applied programs in the life sciences. NIMBioS outreach initiatives focus on the enhancement of education at the interface between mathematics and biology and promote cross-disciplinary approaches to science at all education levels.

InTeGrate is a 5-year, NSF-funded STEP Center grant, running from 2012 through 2016. The STEP (STEM Talent Expansion Program) Center program enables "a group of faculty representing a cross section of institutions of higher education to identify a national challenge or opportunity in undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to propose a comprehensive and coordinated set of activities that will be carried out to address that challenge or opportunity within a national context."

The mission of iDigBio is to develop a national infrastructure that supports the vision of the National Resource for Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) by overseeing implementation of standards and best practices for digitization; building and deploying a customized cloud computing environment for collections; recruiting and training personnel, including underserved groups; engaging the research community, collections community, citizen scientists, and the general public through outreach activities; and planning for long-term sustainability of the national digitization effort.

The Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education (NIBLSE; pronounced "nibbles") is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Coordination Network for Undergraduate Biology Education (RCN-UBE). NIBLSE was formed in 2014. The long-term goal of NIBLSE is to establish bioinformatics as an essential component of undergraduate life sciences education by creating a permanent network of investigators to articulate a shared vision of the extent to which, and how best to, integrate bioinformatics into life sciences curricula.

The Science Case Network, a newly established Research Coordination Network for Undergraduate Biology Education, centers on expanding the use of and knowledge about two effective teaching approaches: case studies and problem based learning (PBL). The Science Case Network seeks to connect case study and PBL innovators, researchers, and user groups to further the understanding of the effectiveness of these methods. Case studies and PBL have been shown to help undergraduates develop superior skills in question formulation and data analysis while they learn as much content as with traditional methods. Using these approaches, students collaboratively analyze a scenario that presents a biological issue within a realistic setting. Students then conduct investigations and report findings.

SimBio produces software that uses sophisticated interactive simulations to teach biology in an inquiry-driven learning style. We also conduct grant-funded research to understand how to make educational software more effective. Our products allow students to conduct simulated experiments similar to those performed by practicing scientists, in fields of biology where live experiments are impractical or impossible.

NABT recognizes that the true focal point for learning on critical issues is the classroom, and our members enhance the learning experience for millions of students each year. Since its establishment in 1938, the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) has been the recognized "leader in life science education." Thousands of educators have joined NABT to share experiences and expertise with colleagues from around the globe; keep up with trends and developments in the field; and grow professionally.

Evo-Ed has developed case studies that track the evolution of traits from their origination in DNA mutation, to the production of different proteins, to the fixation of alternate macroscopic phenotypes in reproductively isolated populations.

ESTEEM is a collection of resources for teaching quantitative skills in biology, operating under "The Three E's": Excel, Exploratory, and Experiential.

The mission of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) is to promote and advance the microbial sciences.

The Analyzing Images to learn Mathematics & Statistics (AIMS) project includes examples of how image analysis can be used to capture student's interest and teach quantitative skills in an engaging way.

Avida-ED is an award-winning educational application that helps students design and perform experiments to test hypotheses about evolutionary mechanisms using evolving digital organisms.

DryadLab is a collection of free, openly-licensed, high-quality, hands-on, educational modules for students to engage in scientific inquiry using real data. DryadLab modules can be easily integrated into existing advanced secondary, undergraduate, and early graduate courses, and can be adapted to meet the specific needs of your course.

Authentic Research Experience in Microbiology (AREM) is a modular approach to integrating genomics research into the general biology or microbiology curriculum. AREM investigates the microbiome of New York City across its boroughs, its streets and parks and across time.

Biodiversity Literacy in Undergraduate Education (BLUE) is a curriculum project that is focused on bringing collections data into undergraduate classrooms and using it to teach data skills.

The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) brings together the science of the natural world with the science of human behavior and decision-making to find solutions to complex environmental problems. We convene science teams to work on broad issues of national and international relevance, such as water resources management, land management, agriculture, species protection, among other areas of study. By supporting interdisciplinary science teams and researchers with diverse skills, data, and perspectives, SESYNC seeks to lead in-depth research and scholarship that will inform decisions and accelerate scientific discovery. SESYNC is funded by an award to the University of Maryland from the National Science Foundation.

The National Institute for STEM Evaluation and Research (NISER) provides quality evaluation services to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) research and education sectors, including academic communities, not-for-profit organizations, and government entities.

EREN is a National Science Foundation’s Research Coordination Networks (in Undergraduate Biology Education) five year project. The impetus behind this project was the growing focus on research among faculty from primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) along with the recognition that many of the most pressing questions in ecology and environmental science are best addressed using multiple sites and coordinated data collection. We argue that greater collaboration among PUIs will allow these data to make more meaningful scientific contributions. Short-term projects can be linked to similar or related work at other institutions, thus extending questions across space rather than time.

The Numb3r5 Count! Project focuses on biological problem solving. It offers faculty workshops and supports open resources developed as a part of the project. Quantitative reasoning is like many other skills. It requires practice and an appreciation for the utility of mathematical tools and strategies. Faculty and students in biology must grapple with mathematical models, tools, and insights as they engage in the study of biological science.

The Society for Mathematical Biology promotes the development and dissemination of research at the interface between the mathematical and biological sciences through its meetings, awards, and publications. The Society serves a diverse community of researchers and educators in academia, industry, and in government agencies throughout the world.

MathBench Biology Modules introduce students (and anyone else who's interested) to the mathematical underpinnings of what they learn in introductory biology courses.
But unlike a textbook, the modules are not full of equations and proofs. Instead, we try to bring math to life using intuitive approaches, everyday situations, and even humor.
The modules contain hundreds of interactive activities, games, and questions. They range from the relatively simple (what to do with division) to the relatively abstruse (discrete diffusion models).

Founded in 1937, The Wildlife Society's mission is “To inspire, empower, and enable wildlife professionals to sustain wildlife populations and habitats through science-based management and conservation.” The Wildlife Society enhances our members’ networking and learning opportunities, professional and career development, and provides numerous ways for them to get more involved in creating a better future for wildlife and their habitats.

The Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance (IBA) is a consortium created to promote research and education in biomathematics. The IBA strives to bring together institutions both academic and non-academic to build a collaborative academic community in the pursuit of advancing biomathematics, ecology, and related areas for the researchers, educators of the mathematical and biological sciences, and active scholars. In doing so, the IBA provide a wide range of expertise, resources, and opportunities that are only available when we work together as a community.

The Mathematics and Climate Research Network (MCRN) uses web-based tools to engage mathematicians in climate research. MCRN members collaborate remotely in Research Focus Groups to study the cryosphere, conceptual model validation, data assimilation, the electric grid, food systems, nonsmooth systems, paleoclimate, resilience, tipping points, and more.

The NWBC is creating a series of learning outcomes and customizable modules that can be incorporated into any first-year or introductory biology sequence that reflects the NWBC's commitment to scientific literacy for majors and non-majors alike. The NWBC is especially interested in developing course descriptions to facilitate curriculum design and student transition, especially from the 2-year to 4-year institutions. The NWBC also fosters professional development, provides support, promotes dissemination, and facilitates curricular reforms at our institutions.

Beagle Investigations Return with Darwinian Data (BIRDD) is a rich collection of primary scientific data and supporting materials about the Galapagos Islands and Darwin's finches. BIRDD is a problem space providing a collection of introductory materials and data resources designed to support students as they reason about the evolutionary relationships between the species.

The Biology Students Math Attitudes and Anxiety Program is a resource for educators who are looking to implement non-invasive techniques to change student attitudes and reduce anxiety towards math.

The Diverse and Integrative STEM Continua Using Socio-environmental Systems In and Out of Neighborhoods (DISCUSSION) Network is a driver for social innovation that positively impacts broadening participation in STEM. The DISCUSSION Network is a collaboration between North Carolina Central University and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) representing a networked improvement community located within the Piedmont Region of North Carolina. In close partnership with community colleges and civic organizations, the project will reach families and students that lead to broader participation of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

This network focuses on promoting quantitative education through expanding the adoption of data-centric resources and facilitating large-scale collaboration on approaches to classroom implementation. We aim to apply the open educational resources (OER) life cycle framework to strengthen the implementation and adaptation phases of these resources.

Genome Solver began in 2012 with the goal to create a community of undergraduate educators interested in the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) as a means to teach the fundamentals of bioinformatics. Since then, Genome Solver instructors have provided training to more than 250 faculty members from approximately 125 institutions in a 1- or 2-day workshop. Although no additional workshops are being scheduled as of 2018, the current workshop materials will be available here on QUBES as slide decks, transcripts, and narrated videos. Genome Solver is funded by the National Science Foundation (DUE 1123016 and DUE 1505102).

For modern life science researchers, high-throughput approaches can open the doors to discovery of novel genes, drugs, and regulatory networks. The effective design, implementation, and analysis of high-throughput research require fundamental quantitative skills. Taken together, the opportunity for new modes of discovery and development of associated quantitative skills make integration of high-throughput research into college biology curricula highly attractive. Yet, the high cost and technological demands of high-throughput discovery prohibit its use in most college laboratories. To address this need, this Research Coordination Network in Undergraduate Biology Education (RCN-UBE) seeks to improve student quantitative skills and participation in high-throughput discovery. Researchers and teaching fellows in the network will learn about high-throughput technologies and work together to create novel case studies that will demystify high-throughput approaches and promote discovery science to reinforce cornerstone STEM concepts and quantitative skills in the college classroom.

The Modeling Hub aims to facilitate the integration of mathematical modeling in classrooms, by providing resources for both students and educators. We also want to foster a community where teachers from pre-kindergarten onward can share these resources. The Hub offers a free repository of lesson plans, worksheets, and more. Users can also connect to a network of educators for faculty development, discussion, and mentorship. The funding of this site by COMAP, NCTM, and SIAM, creates the opportunity for network members to meet up in person at conferences hosted by these organizations.

This group is a community formed to talk about undergraduate research. This group was started by an AALAC workshop at Bryn Mawr on Strategic Optimization: Focusing Undergraduate Research to Maximize Scholarship in Applied Mathematics.

This summit is a conference of key project personnel, coming together to meet and exchange information about successful strategies used to advance biology and biology education across America. Projects funded through RCN-UBE contribute both to the discipline of biology and to the education of undergraduate biology students; they bring together faculty who would not normally but who communicate and interact in a variety of newly established networks.

SIMIODE, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Cornwall, New York in the United States, was founded by DR Brian Winkel, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, United States Military Academy, West Point NY USA in 2013. For faculty members and students that want to focus on compelling applications, modeling, motivation for studying differential equations, and instructional technologies and make investigation of realistic scenarios possible, SIMIODE provides a comprehensive and cohesive community approach to studying differential equations. SIMIODE offers resources: instructional text, PowerPoint presentations, modeling scenarios, video, data, discussion areas, and space for projects, in two areas – student and teacher centers.

In conjunction with the Committee on Curriculum Renewal Across the First Two Years (CRAFTY) of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), a consortium of eleven institutions will collaborate to revise and improve the curriculum for lower division undergraduate mathematics courses. A key element of these innovations will be interdisciplinary partnerships, with partner disciplines directly involved in decisions about curricular needs. Collectively, the consortium will impact over 52,000 undergraduate students and 200 college faculty from a wide array of disciplines through implementing major recommendations from the MAA Curriculum Foundations (CF) Project and changing the undergraduate mathematics curriculum in ways that support improved STEM learning for all students while building the STEM workforce of tomorrow.

Visual Classrooms is a cloud based active learning platform that promotes collaborative learning and engages students in team based critical and creative thinking.

CC Bio INSITES is an NSF-funded network that aims to increase and support community college instructors' investigations into teaching and learning biology. The network consists of Biology Education Researchers at two and four-year institutions who come together to discuss and improve community college scholarship and teaching in biology. This network grew out of the recognized need for more research on how students learn biology at community colleges, which serve over half of the nations biology majors and the majority of underrepresented students in biology, and recognition of the need for increased social, intellectual, and resource support for these efforts.

Two-year colleges have dedicated full and part-time biology faculty who teach the science they love to students from diverse backgrounds, varied preparation and educational goals, and many who are new to the higher education experience. Unfortunately, many of these students, while intelligent, driven and capable, fail to succeed. Education research has generated a vast amount of information about best practices for overcoming the barriers these students face. However few community college faculty are trained in teaching and fewer have the time to keep up with the education research. CC-BIOME is an effort to improve student success by providing biology faculty a community to share awareness of, and ability to effectively use resources shown to increase student success.

The BioMolViz group works to provide biochemistry and molecular biology educators with assessment tools instruments, and activities to teach biomolecular visualization.

The HILT site is your ultimate resource for easily finding High Impact, Little Time activities to improve student learning in your statistics classroom. With a teacher's busy schedule we know finding the time to design and implement strategies to specifically target your students' weaknesses is a challenge. The HILT site can be your library for quickly finding a brief, easy to use activity that has already been shown to improve student learning in other classrooms. Currently, most of our activities are designed to address student challenges related to lexical ambiguity. Students enter an introductory statistics classroom with previous knowledge of colloquial definitions of many statistics vocabulary words such as random, skew, and bias. Lexical ambiguity HILT activities are designed to teach statistics vocabulary in a way that specifically targets students' previous knowledge of colloquial definitions and builds them into a correct understanding of the statistical use.

Through funding from the National Science Foundation, we have developed curriculum that directly and creatively tackles the most significant challenges faced by introductory students and instructors. The result is a passion-driven, project-based experience that provides greater access to the quantitative research process for large numbers of students and combines new learning materials and innovative teaching strategies for exposing students to a multidisciplinary model of quantitative inquiry. The curriculum provides training in flexible application of knowledge, opportunities to analyze data in real world contexts, and education about quantitative tools through computing. Our approach provides students experience with basic coding through work with SAS, R, Stata, Python or other code based programs.

NeuroCaseNet is a network of current and future faculty that are interested in development, use and research on case studies and PBL teaching methods in neuroscience curricula. While the neuroscience community is large and organized and there is strong support for neuroscience education within the community, the adoption of case studies and PBL methods within neuroscience courses is less developed. Finding appropriate teaching resources, perhaps due to the interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience as a discipline, can be difficult. This network will provide collaboration opportunities for educators with a strong interest in using these pedagogies in the classroom and create a platform for the discussion and dissemination of new teaching resources for the broader neuroscience education community. The goal is that increased faculty and future faculty collaboration on creating case studies will enhance neuroscience education in all institutional contexts.

Swirl is an interactive platform for learning and teaching R in the R console that can be used to efficiently integrate programming and data analysis instruction into a range of undergraduate biology courses. In addition to utilizing existing Swirl courses, instructors can design custom interactive courses using the Swirlify package to support class objectives.

SABER is a scientific community whose members develop theory and generate evidence with the goal of improving post-secondary biology education. SABER fosters Biology Education Research (BER) and its dissemination.

The Carpentries teaches foundational coding, and data science skills to researchers worldwide. Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, and Library Carpentry workshops are based on our lessons.

Started in 2019, the goal of QB@CC is to drive the disciplinary expectation that all biology courses should significantly enhance student's quantitative skills.  QB@CC provides educational materials and professional development for faculty. QB@CC generates Open Education Resources (OERs) that may be used by anyone, and professional development programming will be designed to address many of the challenges in teaching quantitative skills. Although this network focuses on community college faculty, most of the materials generated will be appropriate for lower level biology courses in four-year institutions.

CourseSource is an open-access journal of peer-reviewed teaching resources for college biological science courses. A key feature of CourseSource is the alignment of our articles with learning goals and objectives that were developed by the associated professional societies. CourseSource provides authors with the opportunity to publish teaching materials in a high-quality format that documents their scholarly teaching efforts, accomplishments and innovations. 

OCELOTS brings together tropical ecology researchers, active learning pedagogy specialists, software developers, and media specialists, with the vision of creating an open-access, online resource library of learning modules in tropical ecology. The goal of these modules is to spark excitement in undergraduate biology courses by broadening cultural and geographic perspectives, enhancing principle-based reasoning and quantitative skills in ecology, and changing the way that students learn biology.
 

The goal of AK DaTUM RCN-UBE Incubator is to enhance the quantitative skills of undergraduate biology students in Alaska by developing online educational tools, focusing on the changing environments in Alaska. 

The objective of the Inclusive Environments and Metrics in Biology Education and Research (EMBER) Research Coordination Network is to coordinate efforts of researchers with interests in diversity from the education, biology, psychology and sociology fields. The iEMBER network focuses on expanding an understanding of how to create inclusive, supportive and engaging environments to foster the success of diverse students. 
 

USE Cit Sci has a goal to create a diverse community of practice invested in using existing citizen science with undergraduate students. This includes engaging students in authentic science practices, improving student and instructor learning outcomes, and broadening participation in science. 

The objective of the Antibody Project is to create research experiences around Antibody Engineering for undergraduate students at two-year colleges. During goals of this project include: 1) developing laboratory modules to support course-based undergraduate research experiences related to antibody bioengineering, and 2) investigating the feasibility of using hackathons as a novel strategy for engaging participants in collaborative curriculum development.This will be done during 3-day virtual hackathons and then shared with participants and the public.

Started in 2021, the goal of CURESUB is to establish multi-faceted course-based undergraduate research experiences in cellular genetics and socio-biology for students underrepresented in biology. This group will further advance the scholarship of active learning pedagogy and the integration of OMICS, and bio/social informatics into undergraduate biology education

The Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) is a nationwide collaboration of 100+ institutions that integrates active learning into the undergraduate curriculum through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) centered in bioinformatics and genomics.
 

The goal of iBEARS is to connect iBEARS collaborators and create a shared vision to expand and scale up the use of course-based research experiences and virtual mentoring to infuse twenty-first century skills into STEM education. This virtual mentor training is used to work and connect undergraduate biology students to design, implement, and present course-based research projects to make STEM more inclusive.

As an NSF funded RCN project, the CRISPR project is focused on expanding laboratory curriculum to include CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. The objectives of the project include the development of a national network of biology educators at both two- and four-year institutions dedicated to the development and implementation of laboratory activities centered on experiential-based work with CRISPR-Cas9.

The objective of BioGraphl is to create materials to increase inclusion in STEM curricula by enhancing the representation of the true diversity of science.

BCEENET brings together natural history collections professionals, undergraduate educators, data experts, and researchers to support the development and implementation of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) using digitized collections data. Undergraduate research increases student engagement, retention, and long-term success and is essential for building a scientifically literate and engaged workforce, and embedding research experiences in courses is especially important for underrepresented students who may experience barriers to accessing traditional research experiences. For those implementing CUREs, BCEENET provides training, curriculum materials, and ongoing support for faculty members as well. 

The objective of the Grappling with Graphs projects is to generate a greater understanding of how to support competency in graphing in undergraduate biology students and to co-design with instructors the tools and resources to integrate research-based instruction in graphing into their introductory courses to improve graph construction competence.

The RIOS Institute exists to kickstart the implementation of Open Education (OE) and social-justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (S-JEDI) practices in STEM higher education. We provide support and resources for STEM organization leaders to bring S-JEDI-centered Open science pedagogy, materials, and resources to the members of their academic organizations and by extension to the institutions where their members teach and do research.

Founded in 2013, SIMIODE is a Community of Practice of faculty who wish to teach differential quotations through modeling activities. Working closely with high school and undergraduate levels, this group uses realistic modeling to motivate the study of differential equations by introducing the mathematics in the context of a situation, motivating mathematics and communicating to be carried out in the analysis. 

The Ciliate Genomics Consortium (CGC) is a student-centered, nation-wide collaborative learning community that uses scalable functional genomics research for integration into courses in a variety of biology sub-disciplines. The CGC employs an integrative teaching and research model that combines both inquiry-driven class laboratory activities and collaborative consortium pedagogies to advance faculty research. 

The Deep Teaching Residency (DTR) is a year-long faculty development program in inclusive pedagogy that aims to meaningfully transform faculty mindsets and practices. ‘Deep Teaching’ is an inclusive pedagogical philosophy that seeks to engage faculty in a critical evaluation of how instructor self-awareness, students’ personal histories, and broad social structures impact the development of an equitable pedagogy . 

SPARCnet is collaboratively developing materials for teaching, outreach, and research. This private page is for the most current protocols/datasheets/handbook, works in progress, draft materials, and internally sharing documents. Please request membership and join us.