|
Dear BioQUEST community,
Hi, I’m new here! I’m thrilled to join all of you and this thriving community as the Communications Manager. With fresh eyes, a few things that stand out right away are the impressive sense of collaboration, innovation and empowerment – for both educators and students. As I learn more about BioQUEST and the QUBES platform, I’m in awe of the opportunities. The educational resources uploaded in February alone are quite remarkable.
A little bit about me: My background is in communications, marketing and branding, with nearly 20 years of non-profits, higher education (including STEM and adjunct teaching) and public health experience. I grew up in rural Ohio (where I received my bachelor’s from The Ohio State University), moved to sunny Los Angeles for my first big girl job (and got my master’s from USC), then to wintery Chicago; eventually settling back in my home city of Columbus. Although it is more of a basecamp as my passion is travel (my husband, four-year-old and I backpacked through Japan and Korea this past fall!). 
I am excited to partner with you in this unique, dynamic environment. I hope to serve you in maximizing your voice and work (and that of the greater community) while shining a light on the opportunities and connections. I look forward to getting to know you… and mastering the QUBES platform  Please feel free to email me at tessa.gatz@bioquest.org or find me on LinkedIn.
Best,
Tessa
In this newsletter:
BioQUEST News
Partner Corner: News & Opportunities
Upcoming Events
If you would like to share an event with us, reach out to tessa.gatz@bioquest.org.
BioQUEST News
QUBES Corner
19 open educational resources were published to the QUBES Library in February with 2,888 resources in total. Browse the new resources here.
2024 Partner Summit Summary
We just hosted the 2024 Partner Summit at the end of February. We use these meetings as a way to bring together QUBES group managers and collaboratively explore ways to organize projects for success. It was great to catch up with some existing partner organizations and see some new faces as well.
Check out the partner introductions shared by attendees. We spent the bulk of our time in breakout groups discussing shared challenges such as building a community around your project, centering equity in your project and working with open educational resources and pedagogy.
The majority of the resources available in the QUBES OER Library are shared by partners who host a community group on the platform. Do you have a project, journal club or special interest group that you would like to host with BioQUEST? Drop by office hours to chat with Sam and Deb about how to get started.
Note: if you have published a paper related to your work with BioQUEST and/or the QUBES platform, please let us know (send the link to Tessa)!
Partner News and Opportunities
FIU STEM Transformation Institute STEM Education Fellow Opportunity 
Apply to join FIU’s thriving community of STEM education researchers by visiting go.fiu.edu/STEMTI-Postdoc-Fellow. The deadline is March 11.
STEM Leadership Series: Excellence, Catalysts for Change, and Inclusive Impact
Through the exploration of innovative ideas, curriculum materials, policy revisions, and network leveraging, leaders can drive meaningful changes to advance initiatives within their institutions. This series will delve into the strategies employed by influential leaders in the field who have successfully spearheaded the transformation of STEM. Learn more here. Starts on March 18.
RIOS Institute Calling Bull Workshop 
This planning workshop is hosted by Dr. Carrie Diaz Eaton is geared towards those wanting to teach Calling Bull at their institution. They will share tips and experiences for teaching this course with a focus on participant needs and questions. Happening on March 8 at 2:30 p.m. ET. Register here: http://bit.ly/3I8ADaI.
Molecular CaseNet Learning Opportunity
Join Molecular CaseNet members in an inclusive teaching and learning opportunity on March 8, 2024 to learn about designing curricula to overcome executive function challenges, techniques for teaching blind/ low vision students and tools to test color pallets for color vision diversity. Register here.
Become a Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs Community (MCC) Fellow
Applications for the 2024 MCC Fellows Cohort are now open! Click here for more info and apply.
The MCC Fellow is a special designation for experienced MCC faculty. Faculty will be recognized as an MCC Fellow for their experience in teaching MDH Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) and their support of other faculty interested in teaching their undergraduate laboratory courses as an MDH CURE.
The MCC Fellows Cohort is a two-year program for faculty interested in creating an MDH CURE and becoming a MCC Fellow.
Research on Student Graphing Needs Volunteers 
A research team at Purdue University, SimBiotic Software, and University of Pennsylvania is conducting an NSF-funded research study and is looking for both instructors and students to participate. The study is on how undergraduate biology students learn to construct graphs. It uses a tool called GraphSmarts which assesses student competencies in building graphs.
Participation includes interviews and through taking an assessment the team; participants are paid (a nominal amount) for their time. The team is particularly looking for faculty and students from primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI’s) and other colleges / universities that are not R1 research institutions. If interested email Eli Meir at eli@simbio.com.
Attend the 2024 OUR & MCC Research & Pedagogy Virtual Workshop 
Optimizing Undergraduate Research Opportunities (OUR) and Malate Dehydrogenase CURES Community (MCC) is hosting a workshop. Sessions will include best practices on incorporating essential attributes of research into CUREs (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences), YUREs (Year Round Undergraduate Research Experiences) and SUREs (Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences). Learn more here.
Inaugural Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) in STEM Conference 
We are delighted to invite you to attend and contribute to the 2024 RECR in STEM Conference. This event is open to all individuals who are curious about or already engaged in work centered on responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) education across the STEM learning ecosystem. Enjoy El Paso's beautiful weather as you network with colleagues, gain knowledge/skills, and generate new ways to support the enculturation of scholars in RECR May 30-June 1, 2024.
Learn more from the event website.
ASK-BIO Workshops
ASK-BIO Network, The Advancing Assessment Skills in Biology Network, is a faculty development initiative for under-resourced institutions funded by the National Science Foundation (RCN-UBE 2018322). The goal of the ASK-BIO Network is to support Biology faculty in improving question writing and assessment development. They have developed a series of workshops to help support faculty in developing aligned and reviewed assessments. Visit their workshop page to see the schedule for 2024 workshops.
CURing All of Us Workshop
Join this hybrid training workshop May 20-24, 2024 at the University of Mississippi. CURing All of Us began as an innovative initiative leveraging the All of Us database to teach data science skills using a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE). The workshop aims to train instructors in CURing All of Us teaching modules for implementation in biology courses starting in the next academic year. Applications are due March 22. Applicants will be notified by April 5. Please note that travel and housing are the responsibility of the attendees. Participants will receive continued support as part of the network. Learn more and apply here.
|
