Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Introduction to Urban Agriculture: Although various COVID-related challenges greatly delayed the construction of the Alverno Greenhouse, the physical structure was finally completed in September 2021. Since then, our major efforts have focused on publicity to make the students, faculty, and staff of Alverno College as well as the surrounding community in south-eastern Wisconsin aware of our new educational facility and support opportunities. During this grant year, we have had 518 individuals visit the greenhouse for a tour and introduction to sustainable urban agriculture through aquaponics: including 143 Alverno students as part of classes, 176 K-12 students and their teachers, and 106 curious community members. Student-Faculty Summer Research: We had four full-time faculty and three full-time staff (lab managers) participate as research mentors in our 6-8-week program. The program supported 17 student participants: 2 freshmen, 6 sophomores, 5 juniors, and 4 seniors (self-reported as 3 White, 10 Hispanic, 3 Asian, and 1 Alaskan Native). Summer Onboarding: Immediately before school began, we held an onboarding event for new science students in conjunction with the established onboarding for the New Futures of Math and Science participants (NFMS, NSF S-STEM award # 1742597)). Unfortunately, attendance was low and we only had participation from 12 new students (~10% participation) and 17 NFMS students (95% participation).We are reimagining this event and exploring options for increasing attendance in future years. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All aspects of our project revolve around exposure, training, and professional development. During the current reporting period, most of our efforts focused on the "exposure" aspect of the project because our greenhouse opened 1-month into the current reporting period. Alverno built its greenhouse with an advanced aquaponics system as a teaching tool; our first step was to get people into the greenhouse and interested in our work. During this period, we hosted at least 54 unique tours of the greenhouse and introduced over 500 individuals to aquaponics and sustainable urban agriculture. These "tours" were relatively short educational events that sometimes included activities like planting seeds, testing water chemistry, or extracting DNA from strawberries. More extensive training activities include: Implementation of the redesigned SC119 introductory chemistry course to utilize the greenhouse in 3+ labs focused specifically on FANH concepts and careers. This project allows students to use the greenhouse in their first semester at Alverno while they learn the basic principles of chemistry and mathematics. During the current reporting period, 68 students were enrolled in the SC119 course. During the summer of 2021, we again ran the student-faculty summer research program (described above). Students gained valuable experience working in the research laboratory setting, performing literature searches, designing research projects, performing experiments, and communicating their science in various informal and formal settings. All this work was completed with the support and direction of participating faculty; four full-time faculty and three full-time staff (Lab Managers). This was our fourth consecutive summer of running a summer research program and the gains for both students and the interdisciplinary faculty mentors have been so pronounced that we are searching for ways to continue to fund large summer cohorts as well as to continue the research throughout the school year. With the opening of the greenhouse facility came the need to hire and train a workforce to maintain the facility 365 days a year. During this reporting period, we hired and trained a full-time greenhouse manager and 15 student greenhouse assistants from five different majors including Art Therapy and Psychology as well as Biology and Environmental Science. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Alverno built its greenhouse with an advanced aquaponics system as a teaching tool; our first step was to get people into the greenhouse and interested in our work. To aid in advertising and increase awareness of our new facility and opportunities, the college has included announcements and updates about the new greenhouse in numerous publications to current and prospective students as well as alumni, donors, and the public. We have created a website for the greenhouse (https://www.alverno.edu/greenhouse) which highlights the support from this grant. During this reporting period, we hosted >54 unique tours of the greenhouse and introduced over 500 individuals to aquaponics and sustainable urban agriculture. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The major goals of this project are to utilize innovative programming centered within Alverno's newly constructed aquaponic greenhouse to increase the numbers of undergraduate women and underrepresented students recruited and retained in Natural Science, Mathematics and Technology (NSMT) majors at Alverno College. As the majority of Alverno alumnae remain in the Milwaukee area after graduating, the project will also encourage the pursuit of food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences (FANH) related careers through enhanced curricular and co-curricular activities integrating sustainable urban agricultural practices with principles of leadership development and community collaboration, thus positioning graduates to meet growing regional need for a competent and diverse FANH workforce. Objective #1: Activity 1a: Partner with high schools to engage 80 high school students annually with greenhouse activities in urban sustainable agriculture. We hosted four events bringing 75 x 6-8th grade students to the Alverno Greenhouse for educational activities. To facilitate future collaborations, we also hosted an additional 26 teachers over eight visits. Activity 1b: Integrate sustainable agriculture and FANH career exploration into established Girls' Academy high school curriculum to enhance recruitment to FANH-related majors. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 GA has had to meet remotely since this project began. However, the faculty are still incorporating FANH concepts whenever possible including teaching an entire until about food and nutrition in which students keep "food journals", quantify nutrients like carbohydrates and fats, and even create original experiments to try to improve the nutritional value of favorite recipes. Activity 1c: Host annual week-long summer day camp on sustainable urban agriculture for 20 high school juniors and seniors. This summer camp was planned and advertised for June 2022, unfortunately, only two students applied, and the event was canceled. Efforts are underway to improve recruitment and participation for June 2023. Activity 1d: Incorporate sustainable urban agriculture activities into existing recruiting events. Due to a lack of participation, many recruitment events have been canceled at the last minute however, during the spring of 2022 the Admissions team successfully hosted two high school visits in which 68 students and 7 teachers visited the Alverno Greenhouse to learn about urban agriculture, meet NSMT students and faculty and participate in FANH activities. Objective #2: Activity 2a: Summer onboarding experience for 20 newly enrolled NSMT majors highlighting on-campus opportunities and FANH-related careers. In August of 2021, we hosted an onboarding event that was open to all incoming NSMT majors and students registered for introductory Biology and Chemistry courses (101 students were invited). This event was combined with the existing New Futures of Math and Science Onboarding event (NFMS, NSF S-STEM award # 1742597). Programming was designed to help students get to know their peers, learn about the campus and expectations, and learn about the wide variety of career opportunities that one has as a science major. Programming incorporated networking and cohort-building activities as well as STEM/FANH activities, including the first activities in the new greenhouse. In all, 12 new NSMT majors (12%) and 16 NFMS students (95%) participated in the onboarding event. Activity 2b: Design and implement innovative general chemistry curriculum to engage all science and nursing majors with sustainable agriculture. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the timeline for the curriculum redesign was delayed. The re-designed SC119 curriculum has been fully integrated into the course offerings since fall 2021 with the intention of rolling out the new curriculum for CH213 in spring 2023. This year, 68 students were introduced to the Alverno Greenhouse and FANH careers through the SC119 laboratory course. Activity 2c: Incorporate FANH careers into a newly designed NSMT career exploration course. A FANH career focus has been successfully integrated into the NSMT career exploration course which will be offered each fall semester. So far, 24 students have taken this new course. Objective #3: Activity 3a: Engage 8 Freshman/Sophomore NSMT majors annually in a 6-week on-campus faculty-student summer research program based in sustainable agriculture. Alverno's summer research program was a collaborative effort sponsored by this grant (#2020-38422-32238), Mary Ellen Powers Research Fellows (private donation), NFMS (NSF S-STEM award # 1742597), Louis Stokes Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation (WiscAMP, award #HRD 1911284), and Alverno College. During the summer of 2022, four full-time faculty and three full-time staff (lab managers) participated as research mentors in our 6-8-week program. The program supported 17 student participants: 2 freshmen, 6 sophomores, 5 juniors, and 4 seniors (self-reported as 3 White, 10 Hispanic, 3 Asian, and 1 Alaskan Native). Depending on their abilities and past experiences, students designed and performed both independent and group research projects. Topics included: assessing bacterial and chemical contaminants in local waterways, the impact of nutrients on crop growth, management of aquaponics systems, and identification of antibiotic-producing soil bacteria. In addition, students participated in daily activities focusing on career development and the formation of STEM identity. Sessions were active working sessions designed to help students create their personal development "portfolio". Topics included: communicating science (oral, written, and poster), career exploration, CV + resume building, networking, professional organizations, graduate schools, REUs or internships outside of Alverno, etc. Since beginning the summer research program in 2019 we have mentored 73 student researchers (56 unique individuals) and of these all but three have persisted at Alverno or successfully graduated demonstrating a 95% success rate. Activity 3b: Increase the number of students in FANH-related internships from 6 to 12 per year. Alverno College requires every student to participate in one "for credit" internship before graduation. During the reporting period, 15students participated in FANH-related internships (4 students FA2021, 2 students SP2022, 8 students SS2022). However, FANH-related internships are likely underrepresented as these data do NOT reflect students who participated in REUs or internships that were not credit-bearing. For instance, we know anecdotally, that many of the students who participated in Alverno's student-faculty research have gone on to participate in REUs at other schools, but many of these were not counted here as they were not credit-bearing. We are currently exploring methods for capturing these data. Activity 3c: Provide opportunities for 24 students participating in FANH-related research to network and present at professional conferences. Due to COVID-19 pandemic safety concerns, opportunities and interest in professional conferences have been exceedingly low. We are not aware of any student participation in professional conferences during this reporting period. However, Alverno requires that all student interns prepare and present posters to the Alverno community. These events have been maintained in a virtual format throughout the pandemic. Additionally, on September 24, 2021, 22 NSMT students presented their research to the broader Alverno community at the NSMT Student Research Showcase and Poster Session. Activity 3d: Provide one student with a $25,000 scholarship to pursue a 3+2 dual degree in Environmental Science (BS) and Freshwater Science and Technology (MS) in collaboration with UWM SFS. This activity is not scheduled to begin yet.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The lack of a physical greenhouse structure compounded by the various COVID-related challenges we face has greatly delayed the completion of proposed project goals; however, we were still able to hold two very successful events over the summer. Student-Faculty Summer Research: We had five full-time faculty and two full-time staff (lab managers) participate as research mentors in our 6-8-week program. The program supported 22 student participants: 9 sophomores, 7 juniors, and 7 seniors (self-reported as 11 White, 5 Hispanic, 4 Black, and 3 Asian). Of these students, three are now employed as greenhouse assistants to help establish and maintain the greenhouse and aquaponics systems. Two additional researchers learned so much through their molecular biology-focused research projects that they placed out of the Genetics Lab course, and we had to create an Advanced Techniques Laboratory Directed Study so that they could continue learning during the fall semester. Summer Bridge: Immediately before school began, we held an onboarding event for new science students in conjunction with the established onboarding for the New Futures of Math and Science participants (NFMS, NSF S-STEM award # 1742597)). Presumably, due to COVID, attendance was low, but we had participation from 13 new science students (25% participation) and 21 NFMS students (100% participation). Changes/Problems: Due to COVID-19, the construction of Alverno's teaching greenhouse facility was not completed until July 1, 2021, this allowed us to enter the building, but the aquaponics system was non-functional. Pluming for the aquaculture tanks was completed in September and we obtained fish on September 15th. The installation of the plant beds was not completed until October 25, 2021. The lack of physical structure compounded by the various COVID-related challenges we face in higher education and life in general these days has greatly delayed the completion of proposed project goals. At the time of writing, the greenhouse is finally operational. We have a 3-member governance team as well as a part-time greenhouse manager (a position that we are hoping to make full-time starting next FY (July 2022)). We also currently have 7 trained student assistants to help with maintenance as well as educational activities and outreach events. Additionally, Alverno College has made the decision to require all individuals on campus to be masked and fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while continuing general safety measures. Together, we believe that these changes/improvements will allow us to move forward relatively quickly and successfully achieve all of the proposed goals for this project. However, it is likely that the research team will need to request a no-cost extension for the grant timeline in order to accomplish all of our goals. This is the only change that we are anticipating at this time. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the current reporting period, the only significant training and professional development opportunities were directly connected to the summer research program (described above). Students gained valuable experience working in the research laboratory setting, performing literature searches, designing research projects, performing experiments, and communicating their science in various informal and formal settings. All this work was completed with the support and direction of participating faculty; five full-time faculty and two full-time staff (the Biology and Chemistry Lab Managers). The Alverno faculty are so dedicated to their students that three additional faculty provided significant assistance/guidance for student projects even though they were technically off for the summer. The student gains in experience, confidence, and leadership skills from participation in summer research programs are undeniable and well documented; but an unintended consequence of Alverno's summer research program was the professional development of the faculty working in this intensively collaborative atmosphere. The participating faculty included three Chemists, a Molecular Biologist, two Microbiologists, and a Mathematician. Successful student research projects required the faculty to work together effectively to advise and support the students. STEM is increasingly interdisciplinary and the research mentoring opportunity increased faculty understanding of the connections to what students do in the biology laboratory to the chemistry laboratory to mathematics and data science classwork. This interdisciplinary collaboration is valued and increases our mutual understanding of disciplinary connections to deepen our classroom experiences. 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?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The major goals of this project are to increase the numbers of undergraduate women and the numbers of underrepresented students recruited and retained in Natural Science, Mathematics and Technology (NSMT) majors at Alverno College and to encourage the pursuit of food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences (FANH) related careers through the development of innovative curricular and co-curricular science activities integrating sustainable urban agricultural practices with principles of leadership development.The project will support the creation and use of programming centered within Alverno's newly constructed aquaponic greenhouse to enrich the already economically, culturally, and racially diverse women of Wisconsin's first Hispanic Serving Institution and foster the creation of future leaders in FANH-related fields. Objective #1: Activity 1a: Partner with high schools to engage 80 high school students annually with greenhouse activities in urban sustainable agriculture. Due to the delay in greenhouse construction and limitations created by COVID-19, it was not possible to bring any high school students to Alverno during this first year. Activity 1b: Integrate sustainable agriculture and FANH career exploration into established Girls' Academy high school curriculum to enhance recruitment to FANH-related majors. At this time, faculty have not made any intentional changes to their curriculum related to this grant. Activity 1c: Host annual week-long summer day camp on sustainable urban agriculture for 20 high school juniors and seniors. This activity is not scheduled to take place until 2022. Activity 1d: Incorporate sustainable urban agriculture activities into existing recruiting events. Due to COVID-19, Alverno was only able to perform virtual recruiting events during this reporting cycle. Objective #2: Activity 2a: Summer onboarding experience for 20 newly enrolled NSMT majors highlighting on-campus opportunities and FANH-related careers. In August of 2021, we hosted a 3-day onboarding event. The event was open to all incoming NSMT majors and students registered for introductory Biology and Chemistry courses (52 students were invited). This event was combined with the existing New Futures of Math and Science Onboarding event (NFMS, NSF S-STEM award # 1742597). Programming was designed to help students get to know their peers, learn about the campus and expectations, and learn about the wide variety of career opportunities that one has as a science major. Programming incorporated networking and cohort building activities as well as STEM/FANH activities, including the first activities in the new greenhouse. In all, 13 new students (25%) and 21 NFMS students (100%) participated in the onboarding event. Activity 2b: Design and implement innovative general chemistry curriculum to engage all science and nursing majors with sustainable agriculture. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the timeline for the curriculum redesign was delayed. Only one of two course redesigns has been completed thus far. This curriculum was put into place for fall 2021, but with the delay in the greenhouse construction, not all labs could be completed as designed. We anticipate full integration of this new SC119 curriculum in spring 2022 and will continue to work on the curriculum for CH213 which will be rolled out to students for fall 2022. Activity 2c: Incorporate FANH careers into a newly designed NSMT career exploration course. A FANH career focus has been successfully integrated into the NSMT career exploration course which will be offered each fall starting FA2020. During the first semester, students met with 11 guest speakers. All presenters were successful women in STEM fields, with six guests representing diverse FANH careers. In addition to learning about the careers themselves, students were surprised to learn that many successful professionals have faced life challenges and changed their career goals numerous times. Objective #3: Activity 3a: Engage 8 Freshman/Sophomore NSMT majors annually in a 6-week on-campus faculty-student summer research program based in sustainable agriculture. Alverno's summer research program was a collaborative effort sponsored by this grant (#2020-38422-32238), Mary Ellen Powers Research Fellows (private donation), NFMS (NSF S-STEM award # 1742597), Louis Stokes Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation (WiscAMP, award #HRD 1911284), and Alverno College. Five full-time faculty and two full-time staff (lab managers) participated as research mentors in our 6-8-week program. The program supported 22 students: 9 so, 7 jr, and 7 sr (self-reported as 11 White, 5 Hispanic, 4 Black, and 3 Asian). Depending on their abilities and past experiences, students designed and performed both independent and group research projects. Topics included: assessing bacterial and chemical contaminants in local waterways, analysis of lead contamination of morel mushrooms, analysis of pharmaceutical degradation, extraction of essential oils, PCR genotyping of crops, and molecular cloning. All students were also introduced to the new greenhouse and given introductory training in aquaponics. In addition, students participated in daily activities focusing on career development and the formation of STEM identity. Sessions were active working sessions designed to help students create their personal development "portfolio". Topics included: communicating science (oral, written, and poster), career exploration, CV + resume building, networking, professional organizations, graduate schools, REUs or internships outside of Alverno, etc. Junior and senior students also participated in a weekly lab meeting where they shared their progress and pitfalls. Lastly, the students created a weekly pot-luck lunch to further bond with their peers and mentors. These informal lunches were so well received that they have been continued into the fall semester and have been opened to all NSMT students. Of the 12 students that we identified as having "advanced" skills upon acceptance to the program and who performed truly independent research, all are planning on STEM careers of some kind. One is planning to teach high school science, five intend to pursue work in the medical field (MD, PA, ME, Public Health Official), and seven intend to pursue graduate school in FANH areas (including natural resources management, bioinformatics, environmental chemistry, freshwater sciences, molecular biology, immunology, and microbiology). Activity 3b: Increase the number of students in FANH-related internships from 6 to 12 per year. Alverno College requires every student to participate in one "for credit" internship before graduation. During the reporting period 19students participate in FANH-related internships (2 students FA2020, 6 students SP2021, 11 students SS2021). Activity 3c: Provide opportunities for 24 students participating in FANH-related research to network and present at professional conferences. Due to COVID-19 pandemic safety concerns, opportunities and interest in professional conferences have been exceedingly low. We are not aware of any student participation in professional conferences during this reporting period. However, Alverno requires that all student interns prepare and present posters to the Alverno community. These events have been maintained in a virtual format throughout the pandemic. Additionally, on October 23, 2020, 20 NSMT students presented their research to the broader Alverno community at the virtual NSMT Student Research Showcase and Poster Session. Activity 3d: Provide one student with a $25,000 scholarship to pursue a 3+2 dual degree in Environmental Science (BS) and Freshwater Science and Technology (MS) in collaboration with UWM SFS. This activity is not scheduled to begin until 2022.
Publications
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