Proposal

Narrative

$26,349.38 in technology fee funds are sought to purchase a Serial Filler to expedite expansion of the Small World Initiative (SWI) into FAU’s Biology curriculum. Life Science lecture and labs (BSC 1005/BSC 1005L) are popular Intellectual Foundations Program (IFP) courses required for non-STEM majors and currently enroll ~1,800 students per calendar year. The labs are being re-designed to incorporate SWI’s citizen science-based antibiotic discovery efforts with the intended outcomes to include greater student persistence (retention) and more efficient graduation rates. Interventions in this course would affect over 8,000 students in the next five years. The SWI project involves students obtaining soil samples, isolating bacteria from these samples and identifying antibiotic-producing bacteria. Each student works alone and conducts independent research. Ninety-two students completed the SWI labs this fall 2016 semester and 192 students will be enrolled in the spring 2017 semester. During the fall semester, ~1,400 petri dishes (aka plates) were filled with various bacterial media to complete the series of experiments. The number of plates will double to ~2,800 this coming spring semester. Considering the fall 2015 semester (833 students) and the spring 2016 semester (797 students), expansion to all Life Science students would require 24,450 poured bacterial plates! Singer Instruments’ Serial Filler (see attached brochure) pours up to 50 plates in six minutes with consistent volumetric accuracy and reduced waste of time and reagents. This instrument is currently used at Stanford School of Medicine, College of William and Mary, University of Toronto and the annual Yeast Genetics and Genomics course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The SWI Program, originally a Yale University course called Microbes to Molecules, became a crowd-sourcing undergraduate project under the direction of Drs. Jo Handelsman and Tiffany Tsang in 2013 with support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Helmsley Foundation. The use of the SWI Program with undergraduates started in the 2013-2014 academic year at 30 colleges in the US and has grown to 167 schools (including high schools) in thirteen countries (http://www.smallworldinitiative.org). FAU’s late faculty member, Dr. Joe Caruso, participated in SWI and conducted a small-scale test in FAU’s Life Science Lab course (BSC 1005L). Dr. Caruso utilized the California Critical Thinking Skills Test to assess the impact on students using SWI. He studied students in a control group and an experimental group using the traditional Life Science lab and the new SWI lab, respectively. Dr. Caruso demonstrated that SWI made significant improvements in students’ critical thinking [Caruso, J.P. et al. 2016. J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 17(1):156-162]. Dr. Rod Murphey, chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, asked Dr. Diane Baronas-Lowell to continue Dr. Caruso’s work and lead the efforts to re-vamp the department’s IFP courses. Dr. Baronas-Lowell was accepted as a SWI Partner Instructor and completed training during last summer at the University of Connecticut. Noah Kaplan will serve as the project manager and was trained by Dr. Baronas-Lowell during the fall semester and will train the new TAs who will teach the labs in the spring. Additionally, Noah will oversee the requested equipment and train future users. Matthew Chartier will participate in an undergraduate directed independent study during the spring term and will be trained and supervised by Noah. Matthew was a student participant in SWI during the fall semester. How is this Project Aligned with the Strategic Plan? Goal 1: Providing Increased Access to Higher Education By funding this lab equipment, non-STEM undergraduate students throughout FAU will be engaged in hands-on basic research. It is well documented that such educational experiences help engage first time college students in coursework by enabling them to participate in citizen science and develop their critical thinking skills. Goal 3: Building World-Class Academic Programs and Research Capacity With over 160 other schools, SWI assists their partner instructors in networking and dissemination of their results. SWI is a world-class academic program based on original basic research. Goal 4: Meeting Community Needs and Fulfilling Unique Institutional Responsibilities By joining SWI, FAU is aiding in the search for novel antibiotics, a huge global threat to human health. Goal 7: Increasing the University’s Visibility By permitting our undergraduate students to generate original findings on novel antibiotics they will be able to submit research papers to the Undergraduate Research Journal at FAU (an online journal). Undergraduates will also be encouraged to disseminate their results at local and national meetings and to publish in national and international journals.

Facilities

There are no facility renovations or upgrades required. Singer Instruments’ Serial Filler will be housed in the current microbiology preparatory laboratory (Sanson Building room 111).

Hardware Requirements

There are no hardware requirements. The Serial Filler is a standalone instrument with an integrated touchscreen computer.

Software Requirements

There are no software requirements.

Personnel Costs

There are no personnel costs; existing personnel will use the requested equipment. The Department of Biological Sciences will continue to support staffing with graduate teaching assistants as determined necessary during the progression of SWI scale-up.

Other Costs

The Singer Instruments Serial Filler, power cable, packing and transit pack, media dispensing kit, two HEPA cabinet filters, five HEPA venting filters, drip tray, UV bulb and 1-year extended warranty (with shipping) cost $26,349.38. Please see attached quote and brochure.

Timeline

If this proposal is awarded, the requested equipment will be ordered immediately upon receipt of the funds. There are no special installation procedures, so the equipment will be used instantly.

Sustainability

The Department of Biological Sciences will pay for further warranty extensions beyond the first year as well as service of the equipment. All consumables to be used with this machine will be paid by the department. The department has dedicated Dr. Baronas-Lowell’s position to SWI and has already paid to send Dr. Baronas-Lowell to the University of Connecticut to participate in the SWI training workshop. The department will continue to pay for her ongoing participation in SWI-related training and activities. The department will continue to support staffing with graduate student teaching assistants as determined necessary during the progression of SWI scale-up. Finally, the department has allocated a portion of the existing microbiology preparatory lab for SWI.

Resource Matching

The Department of Biological Sciences will pay for further warranty extensions beyond the first year as well as service of the equipment. All consumables to be used with this machine will be paid by the department. The department has dedicated Dr. Baronas-Lowell’s position to the implementation of SWI and has already paid to send Dr. Baronas-Lowell to the University of Connecticut to participate in the SWI training workshop. The department will continue to pay for her ongoing participation in SWI-related training and activities. The department will continue to support scaling up SWI into more labs with graduate student teaching assistants. Finally, the department has allocated a portion of the existing microbiology preparatory lab for SWI.

Implementing Organization

The Department of Biological Sciences will implement this project.