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Project Summary
The goal of this project is to build on Tennessee
State University's (TSU) effort in biotechnology education. The specific
objectives of the project are:
1. to provide training in basic biotechnology
techniques for middle and high school teachers from selected rural
counties in Tennessee, and evaluate the impact of the training;
2. to promote educational outreach by distributing
existing and newly developed educational material on biotechnology;
3. to prepare undergraduate students enrolled in the
Department of Agricultural Sciences at TSU for summer internship with
government agencies and private companies; and
4. to assist the Department of Agricultural Sciences
with student recruitment and retention.
The training
involves lectures, hands-on laboratory exercises and demonstrations
through site visits. Project collaborators represent a mix of public
organizations, private industry and other universities. They include:
the Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee Arts and Sciences
Consortium for Education, Bio-Rad Laboratories, University of California
at Davis, USDA/ARS and Vanderbilt University. Not only does this
collaboration provide an avenue to obtain input that will help in
training teachers and students, but will also promote TSU's linkage with
schools in rural Tennessee, other public and private organizations,
including the USDA, and other universities. The project will enhance the
teaching capacity of TSU and its recruitment effort by increasing the
number of potential applicants. An inter-disciplinary team of
researchers and educators with expertise in molecular biology, genetics,
horticulture, and project evaluation from the Institute of Agricultural
and Environmental Research, the Department of Agricultural Sciences, the
Department of Biological Sciences, the TSU Nursery Research Center, the
Center of Excellence in Information Systems and Engineering Management,
and the College of Education at TSU will work closely with the
collaborators to implement project objectives.
For
further information about this project, please contact:
Dr. Fisseha Tegegne
Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research
Tennessee State University
Nashville, Tennessee 37209-1561
Voice: 615.963.5830
Fax: 615.963.1557
E-mail: ftegegne@tnstate.edu |
