To enhance/update our microbiology course, we employed a geographic information science and technology (GIST) infusion to improve students’ understanding of epidemiology and disease spread and to encourage students to earn a GIST certificate, making them more marketable in an increasingly competitive workplace. Following a 25-minute introductory GIST infusion lecture during a microbiology class session, a 1.5-hour GIST laboratory exercise was performed in which teams of students evaluated Centers for Disease Control (CDC) chlamydial disease incidence data. In addition to answering three quiz questions addressing the data, students created a map, using ArcGIS software, indicating which Texas counties experienced the highest rates of chlamydia in 2014. To determine the efficacy/value of our infusion, GIST survey data (pre- and post-infusion), GIST lab quiz scores, and answers to four GIST lecture exam questions were evaluated. In conclusion, our study was successful in improving understanding of what GIST is and how it could impact biological fields by improving attitudes about the likelihood of further GIST study leading to a certificate program, and by exposing biology undergraduates to GIST technologies and software, enabling student data mapping. Ultimately, our efforts could promote enhanced vocationalization of our biology program, thereby enhancing and broadening employment opportunities for our graduates.

In efforts to develop a unique pedagogy for underrepresented high school and undergraduate students, we developed a pilot study to determine the effectiveness of vertically integrating STEM research education from high school students through Ph.D. candidates. The interdisciplinary research project's overarching goal is to assess the impact of environmental pollutants (specifically, platinum group elements found in road dust) on eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and develop computational models to predict the outcomes of exposure. Ultimately, the project involves elements of fate and transport of platinum group elements in soil, water, and air and their impacts on environmental microbiology, eukaryotic cell signaling, and environmental computational modeling. Our vertically integrated and aligned mentorship model paired high school students with undergraduates, M.S. students, and Ph.D. students in various laboratories. To complement their laboratory research exposure, students also attended professional development seminars on résumé preparation, literature mining/searching, preparation of manuscripts, presentation of data, and critical reading of peer-reviewed articles. Our pilot study was very successful in exposing future STEM workers (high school students and college undergraduates) to meaningful research experiences that they translated into seven poster and oral presentations, three review articles (in preparation), three journal articles, and improved attitudes toward STEM careers.

In an effort to update the microbiology teaching-lab curriculum by making lab experiments more current, we designed a microbiology lab experiment that used the polymerase chain reaction to identify microbes growing in students' homes. This experiment successfully engaged students, reinforced theoretical information presented in lectures, provided our students with valuable and current molecular technique exposure, and made molecular microbiology personally meaningful and exciting.