Planning: SEA-PHAGES-TYCs DCL: Implementing Course-Based Research in the Biological Sciences at a Two-Year College

This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing persistence and strengthening workforce readiness of two-year college students through participation in a well-established course-based research experience (CRE) in molecular biology, bioinformatics and genomics. Joliet College has been selected to be part of the Howard Hughes Medical institute's (HHMI) Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) initiative, which provides a nationwide community of STEM faculty to support the adaptation, implementation and assessment of authentic research experiences for students early in the STEM pathway. The SEA-PHAGES curriculum is a two-semester discovery-based sequence that begins with isolating novel viruses from soil samples and progresses to the use of microbiological techniques, genome annotation, and bioinformatics analyses. Through this approach, the project offers a two-year college a meaningful opportunity to join a national community committed to advancing instructional practices and contributing to research that strengthens undergraduate science education more broadly. The objectives of this project are to increase student engagement in STEM, develop scientific thinking and communication skills, and improve retention and transfer rates to four-year institutions. To achieve these objectives, the SEA-PHAGES curriculum is embedded in a two-semester science laboratory research pathway that engages students in authentic research. The project also includes faculty participation in professional development through HHMI and emphasizes faculty mentorship of student researchers. Assessment and evaluation approaches focus on measuring the project's impact on persistence, retention, degree-seeking perseverance and transfer outcomes. Dissemination efforts involve publication and presentation of project outcomes to the biology education community with emphasis on sharing results with two-year colleges from across the country. By generating new knowledge about how research experiences affect two-year college students, the project has the potential to serve as a model for preparing students to succeed in advanced STEM coursework and, ultimately, in STEM. The NSF IUSE: Innovation in Two-Year College STEM Education (ITYC) Program seeks to accelerate the impact of and advance knowledge about emerging and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.