Project Title: Biocalculus: Text Development, Dialog, and Assessment

Principal Investigator: Timothy D. Comar
Co-Principal Investigators: Lisa Townsley, Brenda Alberico

Intellectual Merit: Benedictine University has a national reputation for students going on to earn Ph.D.'s in science and for its medical school acceptance rate. Moreover, student research is a hallmark of science education at Benedictine University. Research is required of students majoring in molecular biology and chemistry, and many other students participate in research with faculty here at Benedictine University and also at Argonne National Laboratory and Rush Medical Research Center. In particular, aspects of biological research are becoming more quantitative, and there is a need to introduce future life and health sciences researchers to a greater array of mathematical and computational techniques and more sophisticated mathematical reasoning. To help meet this need, the Department of Mathematics at BU has developed a two-course biocalculus sequence for majors in the biological sciences who intend to pursue research careers in the biological or health sciences. College of DuPage (COD) is the second largest post-secondary institution in the state and the largest single-campus community college in the nation. COD enrolls over 35,000 students each term, and approximately 1600 students declare biology as their major. Through a collaborative effort between BU and COD, this course sequence will also be piloted at College of DuPage.

CCLI grant #6583983 will enable the project team of mathematicians and biologists to create learning materials and teaching strategies and to promote dialog between faculty and students and in the mathematical and biological sciences. All of the efforts of this project are designed to attract and prepare students who intend to major in biological and health sciences to pursue research in these increasingly quantitative, computational, and data-driven areas. We have three primary goals for this project, the first of which is the creation of a new biocalculus textbook and computer laboratory manual originating from biocalculus courses and associated computer laboratories at BU and COD. Another goal of this project is to create a mathematics and biology seminar jointly administered by faculty at BU and COD. This seminar will be directed toward undergraduate students in the mathematical and biological students. Its goals are to make students aware of the connections between the mathematical and biological sciences, particularly in current and future research, to expose students to potential avenues for future research, and to foster interdisciplinary dialog between mathematics and biology faculty and students at both institutions. The third goal of this project is the assessment of the effectiveness of our biocalculus courses, materials, and seminar.

Broader Impacts: A large percentage of students who pursue graduate work in the sciences receive their undergraduate training at liberal arts institutions like BU. Additionally, a disproportionate number of women who pursue graduate work in the sciences come from liberal arts schools. With BU's successful track record of undergraduate student research, sending students to graduate programs in the sciences and with COD's ability to introduce a wide, diverse body of capable students to future opportunities in the sciences, our two institutions are poised well to create learning materials and strategies to attract and prepare a diverse body of students for graduate work and research in the biological sciences.

The nature of the collaboration between mathematicians and biologists and between a four-year institution and a two-year institution can serve as a template for fostering interdisciplinary pedagogy and research as such institution and as a template for actively establishing and promoting educational and research opportunities for students at a community college. This collaboration strengthens professional connections between disciplines, builds a common language between mathematicians and biologists, and strengths the interdisciplinary knowledge base of the faculty members who train future research biologists and medical professionals. The biocalculus courses at both BU and COD and the joint BU-COD seminar are designed to attract and train students from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, who are interested in mathematics and biology, and expose them to research and opportunities at and beyond our institutions, which will encourage capable students to pursue research careers in the biological sciences. Additionally, the project will contribute to the STEM educational knowledge base through the publication of the biocalculus text and lab manual and through dissemination of the effectiveness of the courses, text, seminar, and collaboration.