Outreach: Other activities

The Dunn-Palmer Herbarium

Located in the Museum Support Center building on Rock Quarry Road at Hinkson Creek, MU's Dunn-Palmer Herbarium is the oldest public institutional herbarium in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River. Holdings include more than 170,000 vascular plants, plus several thousand mosses, fungi and algae. Dr. Robin Kennedy is the Curator. See Mosaics 2006 article (pdf) for more information about Dr. Kennedy and the herbarium.

Life Sciences Outreach to K-12 in Mid-Missouri

at the workshop Fifteen of our graduate students have organized Life Sciences Graduate Student Outreach, to connect graduate students from MU with classrooms in local public schools and show K-12 students that science is really fun and how interesting scientific questions are asked and answered. Teachers can select from a list of graduate students who are available to visit with their students to talk about their own research areas and the excitement of their own scientific discoveries. All presentations are highly interactive and provide the K-12 students multiple hands-on activities and opportunities to experience the excitement of discovery of their own. The program was designed in close collaboration with the MU Science Education Center, and the Center provides workshop activities to prepare our graduate students for their venture into the public schools.

at the workshop The Life Sciences Graduate Student Outreach group has most recently added Saturday Science to their suite of activities. Eighth and ninth graders visit with MU scientists on three separate Saturdays during a semester. Graduate students present a short talk/discussion about who scientists are, why someone would want to be a scientist, and what scientists study here at Mizzou followed by two separate hands-on activities. One activity is modeled after a Crime Scene Investigation where the students solve a crime case by using a variety of scientific techniques. The other activity involves an attempt to conserve an endangered butterfly and allows the students to explore and discuss the effectiveness of various conservation strategies.

Exploring Life Science at MU - for Mid-Missouri High School Students and their Teachers

The Exploring Life Science at MU conference [flyer in Word] is designed to enable high school biology students and their teachers to learn about the most exciting current scientific research and then meet one-on-one with the scientists making those discoveries. Held during Life Sciences Week at MU, this annual conference is organized by the MU Science Education Center and co-sponsored by the Division of Biological Sciences, the Bond Life Sciences Center and the Office of Undergraduate Research.

Public Understanding of Science

The Division of Biological Sciences and the MU Office of Science Outreach offer a workshop Science Outreach: Public Understanding of Science for graduate students interested in developing their skills in outreach to the general public. Participants give presentations to real adult audiences in a variety of venues (public libraries, independent living facilities, senior citizens centers, etc.). The workshop, coordinated by Hannah Alexander - Division of Biological Sciences and Anna Waldron - Office of Science Outreach, is part of a larger program designed to promote public understanding of science through a series of presentations - Science and Me - that explain current issues pertaining to our daily lives, and depict how science is behind accomplishments in these fields. These presentations are designed to increase awareness of the fact that the medicines we use, the vaccinations that we need every year, the food we eat, the hi-tech items that we use, the way we approach aging, our ability to perform corrective eye surgery, and the emission standards that we impose are all the results of the cumulative work of thousands of scientists all over the world, who work to understand basic phenomena, to share their knowledge between disciplines, and to help translate that knowledge and bring it to the pharmacy, the bedside, the food industry, the farming industry, the factories, urban planning and the development of government policies. Examples of topics include: The sun, tanning salons and chemotherapy - what do they have in common? or: "Should I let my girlfriend go to the tanning salon?"; Microbes in industry or: "Are germs really all that bad for us?"; I feel the earth move under my feet or: "Why can’t we predict when earthquakes will happen?"

NSF/Biological Sciences Scholars

These scholarships enhance the recruitment and retention of underserved and underrepresented students in biology. The project involves a partnership with select inner-city high schools in St. Louis to provide scholarships to enable their academically talented, financially needy students to enroll in and complete a BA or BS in Biological Sciences at MU. Underserved (economically disadvantaged) and underrepresented (minority) students are identified in their junior year in high school and provided academic and advising support to prepare them to enroll in Biological Sciences at MU at the completion of their senior year.

Once at MU the Scholars are provided scholarship support to meet their full financial need, academically challenging coursework, personal interactions with faculty, special mentoring, and undergraduate research opportunities early in their career. We provide special career discovery activities with the goal to prepare the Scholars to successfully pursue advanced study leading to careers and leadership positions in the integrated life sciences, and thus to further our goal of increasing the number of underserved and underrepresented scientists in creative research positions in the life sciences.

The Partnership for Research & Education in Plants - for Missouri High School Students and their Teachers

The Partnership for Research & Education in Plants (PREP) is a teacher - student - scientist collaboration that originates from the Fralin Biotechnology Center at Virginia Tech and is supported by the NIH. High school biology teachers, their students, and research scientists form a learning community focused on sharing knowledge and research about molecular genetics, biotechnology, genomics and plant physiology.

Teachers incorporate exciting, inquiry-based research experiences for students into their own high school curriculum and create context for discussion of issues in genetics, genomics and biotechnology. Students design and conduct experiments utilizing wild type and genetically altered Arabidopsis seeds, collect and share real data with scientist partners, and thereby connect classical genetics, molecular genetics, and phenotype. Scientists gain insight into gene function in Arabidopsis and an opportunity to interact with high school teachers and students.

MU is one of five universities in the US selected as a partner for the PREP Program. Missouri high school teachers interested in becoming a part of the PREP Program should fill out the form in the PREP brochure [MS Word] and submit it to Deanna Lankford, MU PREP Program Coordinator, MU Science Education Center. A PREP Orientation Workshop for participants will be held in July on the MU campus.

Saturday Morning Science

Saturday Morning Science logo Saturday Morning Science is a series of free, hour-long talks by MU faculty for people in the MU and Columbia community, including middle school and high school students, who have some interest in science and are curious about science but who do not necessarily have a background in science. The goal is to further arouse their curiosity and encourage them to continue to think about the ways that scientific research impacts their lives.

Recent speakers from Biological Sciences include:

Candace Galen: "Keep on the Sunny Side"
How do plants, rooted in one place, track down a meal? How do alpine and arctic plants turn up the heat? Can a sunflower tell you the time of day? Explore the power of movement in plants.

Rex Cocroft: "What the Bugs in Your Yard Talk About"
A typical backyard contains an alien, vibrating soundscape that isn’t audible to humans but does carry important messages between communicating insects—some of which may be talking about you! Learn what they are saying.

Michael Garcia: "Insulating Your Nerves: Myelin to Multiple Sclerosis"
Much like copper wires, nerves are insulated increasing the speed at which they work. Loss of insulating cells results in debilitating neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease.

Scientific Partnership and Resource Connection (SPaRC)

The Scientific Partnership and Resource Connection (SPARC) is a series of networking events that build relationships between MU scientists and the business community to facilitate technology transfer, entrepreneurship, and career opportunities for students. The largely informal programs are designed to introduce MU faculty members to the realities of the business world and to let business people know about potential new technologies developed by MU faculty members.