Reaching a Large Urban Undergraduate Population through Microbial Ecology Course-Based Research Experiences

Traditional postsecondary education is making progress on embracing the diversity of student backgrounds and experiences while preparing them for the demands of STEM careers. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are effective tools to concurrently achieve many student and faculty goals: facilitating training of students, building career competencies, generating publishable research results and enabling research experiences where students apply their knowledge and interest. Georgia State University is not unique with a high student demand for research experiences and mentors that is greater than traditional research faculty labs can accommodate. Georgia State University is, however, unique in that it is a demographically diverse campus which serves minority and non-traditional students (i.e., second career and veterans) and is also rapidly growing. Therefore, to enhance the microbiology curriculum and facilitate authentic research experiences for the growing number of biology majors, a cluster of course-based research experiences in microbial ecology was developed. A former research lab space was converted to a collaborative teaching lab to serve the growth in course offerings, as well as to accommodate multiple microbial ecology research projects occurring in the same space. The courses offered appeal to students, build on the strengths of faculty experiences, and facilitate collaboration amongst students and with the greater Atlanta community. To ensure that our CUREs are accessible to the diverse students in our department, we addressed a variety of logistical and curricular challenges. Solutions to such challenges align with the goals of the university to offer research and signature experiences to ensure students are included and trained in STEM skills.