For episode 54 of 17 Minutes of Science we are joined by Dr. David Katz (Associate Professor of Biology at Emory University) and Dr. Karen Schmeichel (Professor of Biology at Oglethorpe University) to talk about the program they have created - The C. elegans Pipeline CURE - to lower institutional barriers and promote underserved and underrepresented students to pursue STEM.

Participation in research provides personal and professional benefits for undergraduates. However, some students face institutional barriers that prevent their entry into research, particularly those from underrepresented groups who may stand to gain the most from research experiences. Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) effectively scale research availability, but many only last for a single semester, which is rarely enough time for a novice to develop proficiency. To address these challenges, Dr. Karen Schmeichel and Dr. David Katz co-founded a nationally recognized 4-year CURE at Oglethorpe University. This unique curriculum is referred to as the C. elegans Pipeline CURE, described for the broader education community in a manuscript in the journal CourseSource (Lee et al. CourseSource 2019). The Pipeline CURE integrates C. elegans epigenetics research being conducted by the Katz lab at the R1 research institution Emory University throughout the biology curriculum at Oglethorpe University, a nearby liberal arts college.

Tune in to learn more from Dr. Katz and Dr. Schmeichel.