Alteration and Renovation

ALTERATION AND RENOVATION SUMMARY The OK-INBRE network includes four community colleges throughout the state, Oklahoma City Community College, Tulsa Community College, Redlands Community College, and College of the Muscogee Nation. Tulsa Community College (TCC) is the largest two-year college in Oklahoma. With OK-INBRE support, TCC provides outreach activities to K12 students and teachers as well as research experiences to freshman and sophomore students, which is enhanced by the OK- INBRE Summer Mentoring and Research Training (SMaRT) program, allowing even more students to be engaged in biomedical research training. Limitations in facilities, equipment, and funding for consumable supplies are barriers to undergraduate research at community colleges, as well as adequate space to conduct research and carry out curriculum designed to incorporate experiments into established courses, or the creation of new courses. The proposed renovation at TCC will increase the lab capacity in a multi-room suite that was formerly used for the Biotechnology program, which has been discontinued. Equipment in the suite is largely unused due to the configuration of the space. The renovation will redesign the suite to accommodate twice the number of students as it can currently manage. It will be designed so that high-tech teaching tools can be incorporated. The proposed renovated space will serve as a research hub for bioscience research at the Southeast Campus and will also be available to be used for OK- INBRE supported STEM and curriculum enhancing workshops for area high school teachers. The improved space will dramatically expand the capacity of TCC to design and carry out research project for students and increase the number of students who can participate in biomedical training and help build a stronger biomedical workforce in Oklahoma, one of the primary goals of the OK-INBRE program.