Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the prestigious National Science Foundation to advance the incorporation of cell culture-based research into undergraduate classes. Through the creation of the Cell Biology Education Consortium, Ouachita is now leading a national effort for innovation in undergraduate biology education.
The grant capitalizes on Ouachita's strengths of high-impact learning and a tradition of incorporating research in the classroom.
The foundation for the grant was a three-year pilot program at Ouachita centered on cancer metastasis and neuron differentiation, which was funded by Arkansas Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) and the Center for Advanced Surface Engineering (CASE).
Ouachita has incorporated research into all phases of the undergraduate biology curriculum, allowing hundreds of students to conduct authentic research.
As part of the Cell Biology Education Consortium, students work on new techniques to use in research and develop written and video protocols for those techniques. Additionally, students have the opportunity to interact with scientists from around the world to expand their professional development experiences and create their own independent research projects.
Students are also building on class projects as independent research projects. To date, 16 students have worked in Dr. Reyna's lab and have co-authored a cancer research publication.
The ultimate objective is to send more Ouachita students into graduate level coursework or directly into the workforce.