Equipment: Supporting Biotechnology Education of Undergraduate Students

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Educational Instrumentation project aims to update an inoperative campus lab and provide students with the opportunity for hands-on experiences in the area of biotechnology. Menlo College is a four-year college in Silicon Valley that sits in one of the largest biotech hubs in the world: Biotech Bay. Menlo faculty recently approved a Biotechnology minor to provide foundational knowledge and encourage students to pursue Biotech Bay career opportunities. Equipment funded with this project will restore a former lab space and allow for instruction in the newly approved biotechnology lab classes, increasing student access to instrumentation needed for high-quality STEM education. Expected outcomes include increased student enrollment in the new Biotechnology minor, increased completion of all Biotechnology minor courses, and increased student interest in biotech or STEM-involved fields. Importantly, this project will inform HSIs on what hands-on biotechnology experiences are most exciting for their students and how to build a satisfactory biotechnology minor. Aims of the project are to allow students to gain hands-on biotechnology experiences, which otherwise would not be available, and to enhance student success and interest in the Biotechnology minor. Assessment measures include student enrollment in minor courses, student evaluations of teaching (SETs), and grades. We expect that exposure to biotechnology equipment in a refurbished lab space will signal to all students that biotech knowledge is valuable, which would be reflected as increased student enrollment in and completion of the Biotechnology minor, satisfactory student surveys, and increased STEM interests. Results will be disseminated broadly at conferences and in journals. This project will provide a model for how to use biotechnology equipment to enhance interest in STEM and better prepare students for the Biotechnology workforce. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and increase capacity to engage in the development and implementation of innovations to improve STEM teaching and learning at HSIs. 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.