Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) continues its focus on biology and mathematics curriculum and research with the assistance of another National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.
The most recent award of $393,965, along with two others since 2008, means that over the past seven years the university has received more than $4.7 million from NSF for various STEM projects.
The current award is for a Targeted Infusion Project called BIO-BOOST, which aims to increase the number of biology graduates by introducing meaningful research opportunities for freshmen and sophomores. The program also intends to encourage early-stage biology students to persevere in pursuit of a degree by using authentic research questions to teach foundational biology laboratory concepts in a modern biotechnology lab with state-of-the-art equipment. The project and analysis will be presented regionally and nationally; and because the activities will impact K-12 Education majors, it has the potential to engage STEM interest for generations of students. 
BIO-BOOST, under the direction of Dr. Jana Marcette, assistant professor of biology; Dr. Diane Smoot, associate professor of computer science; Dr. Anbreen Bashir, assistant professor of biology and Dr. John MacDougal, associate professor of biology, started September 1, 2015 and continues through August 31, 2019. The NSF awards Targeted Infusion Projects (TIP) to provide support to achieve a short-term, well-defined goal to improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education at HBCUs. This is the university’s third grant under the NSF’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) program. read more
