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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Assistant Professor Presents at Conference, Earns Award
Aarti Raja, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, presented research at the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE) in Boston, May 15–18. Raja also earned an Early Career Faculty Travel Award from ASM.
Aarti Raja, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, presented research at the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE) in Boston, Massachusetts, May 15–18.
Raja also earned an Early Career Faculty Travel Award from ASM, honoring her as a “stellar example of commitment to teaching undergraduate microbiology and biology.” To that end, the research Raja presented at the conference highlights a collaborative STEM service-learning project that she developed with a recent graduate of NSU and a teacher from a local high school.
About the Project
Title: “Enhancing Science Education through Service Learning”
Authors: Aarti Raja, Ph.D., assistant professor at the college; NSU alumna Rosa Navarra (B.S. Biology, ’14); Javeshnev Azua, teacher at West Broward High School
From the Abstract: In an effort to improve STEM literacy, Raja and her team developed a “microbiology outreach program” with two local high schools, with NSU undergraduate students introducing microbial projects to the science students. Navarra created learning modules for two topics: “Microbes and the Immune System” and an “Introduction to Bacteria.” Using hands-on experiments and demonstrations, Navarra and her fellow NSU students showed “how the immune system reacts to foreign pathogens,” and discussed the “importance of vaccination, proper use of antibiotics, sterile techniques, importance of microorganisms, and identifying bacterial strains”—all topics the NSU students studied in their undergraduate courses. Thus, not only did the high-school students learn about various scientific topics, but the project also reinforced the lessons learned by the undergraduate students and provided a “practical application for sharing their knowledge as part of their course.” Furthermore, this and similar service-learning projects “foster community outreach between NSU and local schools.”
Navarra, who graduated from NSU in May with a bachelor’s degree in biology, also presented this project recently at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens. She will also present on the project at the ASM Florida meeting in Jacksonville this fall.