Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience was nine community college transfer students. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students learned DNA sequence analysis programs: BLAST, multiple sequence alignment, curation, and annotation. The students learned team work skills, presentation skills, and independent online reserach. They also learned about career options due to the work in risk analysis, market analysis, regulatory compliance, and consummer acceptance. Each student presented at least 3 times during the summer thus gaining valuable skills in slide preparation and communication. Further working in teams, they developed or honed teamwork skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The DNA sequence has or will be made availble to campus reasearchers and public databases. A manuscript describing theagribusiness project model and its impact on students is inis in preparation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Students were recruited for a virutal research experinece. Nine students were selected and received stipends for 10 hours of work during 10 weeks of summer 2020. Students worked on analyzing DNA sequences generated in summer 2020 and during an upper division class in winter quarter 2020. We plan to submit the sequences to GenBank in fall 2020. The nine students also completed an agribusiness project where working in teams they identified a threat to a crop, developed a biological solution, and then designed a business proposal to determine if the solution was viable and shoudl be pursued. They presented thier findings during an online symposium.
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:There were two target audiences. 1. Seven community college transfer students. Twelve students applied and we selected seven. 2. The community college professors. We reached out to four professors personally and several local colleges to participate in a workshop held on Oct. 5, 2019 and Nov. 2, 2019. No professors showed up even though two registered. Changes/Problems:Again, connecting with community college professors has been difficult. Two said they would attend the workshop, but they did not show. No reason was provided. There is interested at Norco community college and we will follow up during the last year of the granting period. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The seven reserach studnets were trained in experimental design and molecular biology techniques including: a. Bioinformatics to identify genes by homology b. PCR Primer design c. Experimental design to clone a gene using PCR. d. PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis e. Various bacterial cloning techniques. f. Plasmid purification and sequencing. g. DNA sequence analysis. In collaboration with the Keck Graduate Insitute the studnets received training in about the agribusiness sector and prepared business proposals to translate a biological solution to a threat to a Califiornia food crop. This included market analysis for need and price point, farmer and consumer reception, intellectual property development, and identifying risks such as competing products and industry needs. Students worked in groups to prepare the analysis and present it orally during two symposia and a poster presentation. Finally the seven students received ethics, profressional development, and presentation skills training through workshops and informal meetings with the Dean of the college. The students developed strong teamwork skills in both the reserch and agribusiness projects. All students developed oral and poster presentation skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results of the citrus reserach project have been shared with professors on campus who study the plant clock. We are collaborating with Dr. Dawn Nagel to verify the genes that were cloned are the correct clock genes. The training students receive was deonstrated to campus faculty and administrators including the divisional deans, Provost, and Dean during the symposia where they presented the agribusiness and reserach projects. This is important audience to secure long term funding for this project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period we plan to do the following: 1. Recruit three students for summer research. They will receive a $5000 stipend. These students will complete a reseach project (TBD) and an agribusiness proposal. 2. Follow up with any community college professors that would like to collaborate. 3. Poll all students supported by this grant as to degree date, major, plans after graduation, employment. Several students from the first cohort have entered graduate school at UCR and one has completed a masters degree and is employed at a biotech in San Diego, CA. Full details will be provided in the final report next year.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Of twelve students who applied, we accepted seven. These seven students entered UCR in fall 2018 or winter 2019. The students received a $5000 stipend and other programmatic opportunitites. for 10 weeks in the summer 2019. The students joined eight other undergraduates to work on a project to clone putative clock genes from citrus. The students were able to use bioinformatics to identify putative genes, design PCR experiements to clone the promoter region of the genes. The promoters were then moved into an expression vector to test for circadian activity. Of the 15 genes selected, 6 were successfully cloned into the reporter. The students also sequenced the genic region of 15 genes from twenty citrus varieties. Due to technical issues and the program ending the students were not able to complete the projects. Nine of the students including fours of the seven community college students enrolled in BIOL197 in fall quarter 2019 to complete the projects.
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Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period the target audience was seven students who transferred from a community college to UCR in 2017. Of the 12 applicants we interveiwed all12 and selected 7. Changes/Problems:The only problem was not hosting the community college faculty workshop to develop research projects. One difficulty was the problem with the UCR space and instructor scheduling and the CC faculty. Our experience is thatCC faculty are not very responsive to email and scheduling meeting with them is difficult. For year three we will start in January to plan the workshop and run the modules during a no cost extension of the grant. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The seven reserach studnets were trained in experimental design and molecular biology techniques including: a. Bioinformatics to identify genes by homology b. PCR Primer design c. Experimental design to clone a gene using PCR. d. PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis e. Various bacterial cloning techniques. f. Plasmid purification and sequencing. g. DNA sequence analysis. In collaboration with the Keck Graduate Insitute the studnets received training in about the agribusiness sector and prepared business proposals to translate a biological solution to a threat to a Califiornia food crop. This included market analysis for need and price point, farmer and consumer reception, intellectual property development, and identifying risks such as competing products and industry needs. Students worked in groups to prepare the analysis and present it orally during two symposia and a poster presentation. Finally the seven students received ethics, profressional development, and presentation skills training through workshops and informal meetings with the Dean of the college and Provost of UCR. The students developed strong teamwork skills in both the reserch and agribusiness projects. All students developed oral and poster presentation skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of the citrus reserach project have been shared with professors on campus who study the plant clock. We are collaborating with Dr. Dawn Nagel to verify the genes that were cloned are the correct clock genes. The training students receive was deonstrated to campus faculty and administrators including the divisional deans, Provost, and Dean during the symposiawhere they presented the agribusiness and reserachprojects. This is important audience to secure long term funding for this project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Next summer we will host the last group of students in the summer research program. We will also present the models for the group research projects and agribusiness projects at appropriate national meetings. Finally we will plan the community college faculty workshop in early winter so that it can be fit into the UCR schedule and the professors schedules.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Participation of CC transfers as rising seniors in a unique hybrid summer internship that combines scientific research and an introduction to agribusiness. 2. Development of curricula for an authentic research course for second year Community College students by working closelywith (at least) three biology professors at three local CCs. Under goal one we recrutied seven students who matriculated at UCR in 2017 after graduating from a community college. We interviewed all 12 applicants and selected the seven based on interested in plant sciences and careers in STEM (not medicine). The students received a $5000 stipend and other programmatic opportunities for the 10 weeks of summer research. In fall 2018 4 of the stuents contiuned the summer research projects in a for-credit research course. During the summer the 7 stduents joined 9 sophomore students to identify homologs of the master clock genes in Citrus starting with Arabidopsis homologs. Working in six groups the students found, cloned, and sequenced at least one homology for six different clock genes. The students who continued in the fall are working to determine if the cloned homologs are the actual clock genes for Citrus. The students attended a lecture at the USDANational Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus. Students learned about the importance of the collection and work done there and saw demonstrations on grafting, tissue culture, and citrus diseases. Very little was accomplished under goal 2. Due to too many workshops limiting space and scheduling and lack of personnel the summer workshop for the community college teachers did not happen.
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:There are two target audiences for the granting period: UCR transfer students and local community college professors. Out of 12 students who applied, seven transfer students entering their senior year at UCR were selected for DG Scholars, the summer reserach program. Three community college professors were idenitified to begin discussions about developing cirriculum and authentic reserach projects for their teaching lab. We decided to postpone the workshop for one year. See the Changes/Problems section for an explanation. Changes/Problems:We were forced to delay implementing the goal of developing cirriculum for community colleges due to laboratory rennovation in the Campbell laboratory. Witht the summer research program and other annual events we were unable to identify a week for the workshop to develop the reserach projects and train the community college faculty. The rennonvations are complete and we now have a third teaching laboratory in which we can hold the workshop. The third lab eases scheduling issues with the Campbell lab and gives us flexibility to work with the community college professors busy summer schedules. In late winter 2018 we will identify a week and schedule it well in advance of the summer so that everyone can plan around it and lock the dates into the Campbell lab calendar. Thus we are delaying the implementation of the cirriculum development to years 3 and 4 of the grant timeline. This will have no effect on budgets or personnel. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. The agribusiness project requires students to identify a problem with a crop, research and propose a biological solution to the problem. Then the students must develop a business plan as to the viability, marketablitiy, and profitability of the solution. Working in teams of six the students were given the choice of the top 10 economically important crops in California according to the USDA NASS website. This year students chose almonds, alfalfa, strawberries, wine grapes, avacados, and tomatoes. The students learned how to analyze and mitigate risks, intellectual property, pricing, and marketing. Thus, the students saw how each of these business areas were required to bring a scientific solution to market. They also learned how to prepare and deliver oral presentations, team work, and proper business attire and demeanor. 2. The students spent 10 weeks learning a performing key molecular biology techniques including PCR, gelelectrophoresis, primer design, DNA sequence analysis, genome browsers, DNA cloning, and notebook recording. All of these skills will be useful for students to find faculty labs to join. Students also learned about genome organization, transposable elements and citrus. 3. The students joined several other groups of summer research students in professional development activities such as poster presentations, applying for graduate school, oral presenations, and study abroad opportunitites. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Two outreach workshops occured during the summer research program. The DG Scholars (USDA funded) led incoming UCR freshmen in lab activities to do PCR and run gels. They discussed college life and the summer research program with the students. In winter 2017 the students helped run a workshop for community college students that focused on food safety and security. The participants barcoded fish samples obtained from local grocery stores. They used molecular biology and DNA sequence analysis to determine if the fish was properly labelled and the evolutionary relationships of the fish found in the grocery store. DG Scholars attened the event as aides to help student slearn the technique. They also discussed reasons to enroll at UCR and used the opportunity to be a future DG Scholar as a major reason to attend UCR. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. We will recruit the next cohort of DG Scholars in winter 2018. 2. We will meet with the community college professors to identify a week in summer 2018 to run the workshop. We will also establish an agenda for that workshop. Several 2017 DG Scholar students will be indentified to help in the workshop and assist the professors on their respective campuses.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. The first goal of the project is not listed here. The first goal is to provide a summer research experience for seven UCR students who transferred to UCR in Fall 2016. Seven students were selected from 15 interviewed. These seven students joined 10 rising sophomore students for ten weeks of research with project directors Susan Wessler andJim Burnette along with Alex Cortez and Matt Collin to characterize hAT transposable elements in the citrus variety Fairchild mandarin. The genome of the Fairchild variety was recently completed to high quality by the Wessler lab and only undergraduates have been annotating the sequence. The students characterized, amplified and proceeded to clone at least eight hAT elements over the 10 week period. The students received a $5000 stipend. Secondly the seven DG (USDA funded)Scholars and the 10 SALSA (HHMI funded) Scholars also completed an agribusiness project. See professional development below for more details. 2. The project leaders met with the threecommunity college professors. We decided to delay the summer 2017 workshop for one year due to construction in the University Laboratory Building. See the Changes/Problems section. 3. There were seven students in the 2016 DG Scholars cohort. Of these four graduates in spring 2017, one of these is in a plant biology masters the other 3 are planning on applying for masters or phd in plant biology. One graduated in the Summer 2017 and is employed not in science but is applying for jobs. Two will graduate in the 2017-2018 academic year and are planning on applying to masters or phd programs in plant biology. All seven students said the DG Scholars experience was crucial for them choosing a career in plant biology and higher education.
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Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:There are two target audiences for this reporting period. 1. The seven DG Summer Scholars choosen from community college transfer students at UC, Riverside. These seven students were picked from the thirteen that applied based on interest in plant biology research and the biotechnology industry. 2. Three community college professors who were identified as wanting to introduce authentic research into their teaching laboratories. A planning meeting was held for events that will occur in year two of the granting period. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For goal one, the students had three major areas of training and professional development. The students spent nine weeks in the reserach laboratory annotating and chararcterizing 5 gene families in the Fairdhild Mandarin genome. These students learned experimental desing and molecular biology skills including PCR primer design, PCR, gel electrophoresis and DNA sequence analysis. The students learned basic bioinformatics skills including BLAST, genome browsers, PCR design, multiple sequence alignment. In collaboration with a professor and three graduate students from theKeck Graduate Institute the studentslearned about the agribusiness sector and prepared business proposals on countering a threat to an economically important crop in California. The students learned about CRISPR/CAS9 technology and proposed solutions to counter self-incompatibility issues, drought or pests. Working in teams the students prepared a proposal including intellectual property analysis, risk assessment and costs. During an oral presentation the students pitched their ideas along with a recommendation to fund or not. In collaboration with other summer reserach groups the seven students attended professional development seminars on resumes, oral presentations, research ethics and team building. At the end of the program the students presented two posters per team at the summer research symposium on campus: a. reserach results and b. business proposal. Two groups also gaveoral presentations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During late winter quarter we will recruit the next cohort of DG Transfer Scholars. Advertisments will be sent out to eligible students to encourage them to apply. We hope to interview at least 15 students and select seven. These seven will participate as DG scholars in research and agribusiness business proposal development. We will also continue to work with the 2016 cohort to find labs and identify further professional development opportunities and encourage them to apply to agriculturally related schools and jobs. We will also begin work in earnest with the community college facultyto develop curriculum. As planned there will be a one week workshop for the professors to work at UC, Riverside to develop necessary skills and course materials. We will identify 2016 DG scholars to work with them during the academic year to pilot the course modules.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
These goals of the project were entered wrong. They should be: 1. Participation of CC transfers as rising seniors in a unique hybrid summer internship that combines scientific research and an introduction to agribusiness. 2. Development of curricula for an authentic research course for second year Community College students by working closely with (at least) three biology professors at three local CCs. Under goal 1 we recruited seven talented transfer students from an application pool of 13for nine weeks of summer reserach. The students all had B averages or betterfor GPAs and submitted a short essay on how they expected to benefit. The students were interviewed and seven choosen.The students received $5000 stipend for the nine weeks. Of the seven students three found research labs on campus to do independent research during the academic year. Under goal 2 a planning meeting was held to prepare for year 2 activities.
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