Research Experiences for High School Science and Math Teachers.DOC

Research Experiences for High School Science and Math Teachers Summer 2003 Advanced Research Program/ Advanced Technology Program Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board July 2003 Supplemental Grants for High School Science and Math Teachers - Summer 2003 Projects at begin on page Baylor College of Medicine The Advanced Research Program and Advanced Technology Program (ARP/ATP) were created by the Texas Legislature in 1987 as competitive grants programs for faculty members at Texas institutions of higher education Approximately 400 research projects are funded each biennium in a number of different disciplines and research areas Lamar University Midwestern State University Rice University In January 1999, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board extended the programs to provide small supplementary grants to existing grantees who employ high school science and mathematics teachers to work on these projects during the summer The grants are used by research faculty members primarily to pay for the teachers’ salaries for the four to nine weeks they will work in the university laboratories and to cover costs for laboratory supplies and travel Southern Methodist University Southwest Texas State University .4 Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Texas A&M University Texas Engineering Experiment Station Texas Tech University This program helps build linkages between high school teachers and university research faculty, gives the teachers experiences that they will carry back to their classrooms, and results in increased interest in science and engineering among high school students Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center 10 University of Houston .11 University of North Texas 13 University of North Texas Health Sciences Center 13 Forty-seven teachers participated in research projects in summer 2001 and 47 participated in summer 2002 At the end of the summer, almost all of the responding faculty researchers and high school teachers judged the program to be excellent or good The University of Texas at Arlington .14 The University of Texas at Austin 15 The University of Texas at Dallas 17 This document lists the teachers and faculty members participating in the program during summer 2003, and briefly describes the work that each teacher will The University of Texas-Pan American 18 The University of Texas at San Antonio 19 This summer, teachers are working on projects at 15 different universities, six health-related institutions, and two experiment stations Teachers are engaged in a wide variety of different activities from computer modeling to sample preparation to using various scientific instruments for making measurements The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston 20 The University of Texas M.D Anderson Cancer Center 21 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas .22 West Texas A&M University .22 TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD ADVANCED RESEARCH PROGRAM/ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM SUPPLEMENTARY GRANTS FOR HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATH TEACHERS SUMMER 2003 Teachers and Professors Teacher activity as described by grantee Jessica Zenker Life Science and Algebra teacher YES College Preparatory School Houston Charles Densmore Professor Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Baylor College of Medicine Bonnie J Ardoin Chemistry teacher West Brook High School Beaumont Daniel H Chen Professor Chemical Engineering Department Lamar University Polyethyleneimine-Gene Therapy Given by Aerosol: An Effective Treatment for Pulmonary Metastases Ms Zenker will play an important role in our TDT project aimed at developing aerosol gene delivery technology for clinical application in the treatment of lung cancer in human pediatric patients This technology uses a tumor suppressor gene (p53) and/or a cytokine gene (IL-12) in a unique and patented nonviral formulation which appears to be highly effective in animal tumor models while exhibiting very low toxicity Ms Zenker has worked with our collaborator on this grant, Dr Genie Kleinerman of the M.D Anderson Cancer Center, and is already familiar with some of the methodology that will be used She proved to be a valuable addition to our collaborative effort and would therefore be an even more valuable component of our research team this summer Ms Zenker has expertise in areas of molecular biology that will enable her to continue work on redesigning the plasmids we are using in an effort to increase the persistence of gene expression Such an improvement could potentially make the difference between success and failure in our planned pediatric cancer trials She will also be involved with animal tumor and tissue culture studies, preclinical toxicity studies and aerosol particle size studies These studies should enable Ms Zenker to transfer her research experience to the classroom Super-Porous Titania/NLO-Coated Fiber Optic Photoreactor for Environmental Applications Ms Ardoin will work with two research assistants, under the supervision of the principal investigators, on the coating of aerogel TiO mixed with a nonlinear optical crystal (BaTiO or LiB3O5) on optical fibers, and measurements of photocatalytic oxidation of butyraldehyde in air These research activities need a strong chemistry knowledge and laboratory experience Ms Ardoin will have the opportunity to learn and use analytical instruments such as a Nova surface analyzer, UV-Viz spectrophotometer, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), GC-FID, and GC-MS It is estimated that each of these tasks will take four and a half weeks Ms Ardoin will learn from the laboratory work, interact with research personnel, and have the opportunity to contribute to this emerging technology in air pollution control Her experiences are expected to have a significant impact on her high school science teaching Teachers and Professors Cerise Wuthrich Algebra and Computer Science teacher Archer City High School Archer City Nelson Luiz Passos Professor Computer Science Program Midwestern State University Debbie Trahan Mathematics teacher Mayde Creek High School Houston Richard Baraniuk Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Rice University Teacher activity as described by grantee Flexible Integrated Caching Approach (FICA) for Efficient Content Delivery in Wireless Internet The research project involves the use of WEB through wireless devices Ms Wuthrich participated in this research last summer when she developed WEB pages based on the new WML mark-up language and studied the applicability of such pages to cell phones During that period she coauthored two papers (one already accepted for a conference) In this new proposed participation, Ms Wuthrich will study the use of WML on Palm devices, monitoring the access to those WEB pages, and developing on-line and off-line applications to be used by students This data will be later added to her previous results in the simulation of WEB caching as described in the main research project Expected results include the preparation of the teacher for work with PDAs in complement to her previous training in cell phone applications Ms Wuthrich will also have direct participation in the main research topic by proposing new applications, algorithms and making observations to be used in future papers describing the research results Delivering High Perceptual Quality Real-Time Video Over Wireless Networks The purpose of my ATP project with Ed Knightly at Rice has been to develop technology and a testbed for a new real-time video delivery system We have made much progress, and a prototype is currently under test Our experimentation with real-time video delivery has convinced us of its great potential in education contexts, such as distance education In this summer project, I propose that Debbie Trahan, a teacher at Mayde Creek High School, experiment with this new technology by integrating her teaching materials for advanced placement high school courses into the Connexions system, a multimedia educational project that I started in 1999 Her work will support the important goal of testing the efficiency and effectiveness of the new video delivery system in an educational setting (scheduled for Mid-03 in our proposal research time table) Ms Trahan will be using the Content Commons to create lesson plans for use in pre-advanced placement high school mathematics courses Students who take pre-advanced placement mathematics courses generally tend to attempt advance placement calculus courses in high schools Advanced placement courses are college-level courses taught in high schools Ms Trahan will be able to share these lesson plans with a larger community of pre-advanced placement and advanced placement teachers through her presentations during the school year Furthermore, they will be available over the internet for other teachers to use with their students Teachers and Professors Shonda Majors Anatomy, Physiology, and Biology teacher Houston Christians High School Houston Michael Liebschner Professor Department of Bioengineering Rice University Teacher activity as described by grantee Novel Scaffold Design and Evaluation Technique for Engineering Bone Replacement Tissue Tissue engineering techniques generally require the use of porous scaffolds, serving as a threedimensional template and providing the necessary support for cells to attach, proliferate, and maintain their differentiated function Its architecture defines the ultimate shape of the new grown tissue A relationship exists between tissue micro-architecture and mechanical usage in bone tissue It is however unknown how this architecture differs between species and how it correlates, i.e., with animal weight and activity level Knowledge about the evolution of bone micro-architecture could potentially revolutionize the design of engineered bone replacement tissue and give insight into the importance of bone micro-architecture Ms Majors will be involved in characterizing bone micro-architecture from different species by using cored bone specimen in a micro computed tomography system available in our laboratory and different imaging software packages for analysis She will also be involved in making scaled models of those bone specimens using rapid prototyping and subsequent mechanical testing Because of her training in anatomy, physiology, and biology, Ms Majors can translate the knowledge she gains through this study directly into her classroom Several bone diseases such as osteoporosis directly modify bone micro-architecture Osteoporosis affects about 30% of our population over the age of 50 years and models generated with the rapid prototyping machine can be used in class for demonstration purposes Robert B Croman Physics teacher Plano West Senior High School Plano Radovan Kovacevic Professor Research Center for Advanced Manufacturing Southern Methodist University Development of Information System for Hybrid Rapid Manufacturing Process The goal of this proposal is to develop an information system for the Hybrid Rapid Manufacturing Process This system will consist of a number of modules, such as: a solid data exchange module based on a donated ACIS 3D Geometric Modeler package, an on-line slicing module, a processplanning module, a process-sensing and control module, and a module for automatic generation of welding torch paths and milling head paths The completion of this work will lead toward the first fullscale rapid manufacturing system for building parts with features that cannot be readily produced by other methods As the project involves various aspects of engineering science and practice in nontraditional manufacturing processes, welding, design, computer control systems, interfacing, sensing, signal processing, and control, Dr Croman will be exposed to the related concepts, principles, methods, software and hardware, and software development Dr Croman will work with a research team that consists of eight Ph.D students, two post-docs, and a research engineer The Principal Investigator is motivated to help Dr Croman in transferring his research experience to his classroom activities Dr Croman has been collaborating with the Principal Investigator since 2000 Teachers and Professors Matt Holmes Biology teacher Lanier High School Austin Caitlin Gabor Professor Department of Biology Southwest Texas State University Teresa A Taylor Biology teacher Smithson Valley High School Spring Branch Joseph R Koke Professor Department of Biology Southwest Texas State University Teacher activity as described by grantee Species Recognition Versus Mate-Quality Recognition Mr Matt Holmes will return to continue working on the videotaping and video analysis project that he worked on last summer Mr Holmes was able to video interactions between fish in the water in some of the populations that we tested, but due to the flooding that occurred last summer, the water was too murky to permit taping in other populations Mr Holmes will continue this video process this summer After the taping is finished Mr Holmes will be reviewing the data in the tapes and recording the following information for each focal male: (1) the male’s size class, (2) the number of specific males in the vicinity, (3) the number of females within two body lengths from the focal male, (4) the number of mating attempts (thrusting) and (5) aggressive interactions Mr Holmes’ previous efforts have already helped this project significantly and his future efforts will be very valuable to our study and will provide him with an excellent, well-rounded research experience that he can take back to his classroom Microarray-Based Neuropathology Studies Ms Taylor will determine the microscopic and molecular changes that occur in animal cells in response to bacteria, with the intent of learning what signals are sent between host and potential pathogen This work will support the mail goal of the project, to develop a cell-based microarray system capable of detecting the presence of neural and other pathologies Initial investigations will be done in an earthworm model; earthworms harbor symbiotic bacteria in their nephridia (kidney-like structures) The host (earthworm) somehow selects the appropriate species of soil bacteria to “infect” its nephridia, rejecting all others Understanding this selection mechanism and the signaling behind it will yield fundamental clues about the nature of pathogenesis and what signals to look for with a microarray sensing device We expect the structural changes that occur upon infection to educate our search for signals In addition, because this summer research is based on earthworms and relatively inexpensive reagents and equipment, it will be easily transferable to the high school science laboratory Teachers and Professors Leanne Teneyuque-Rios Chemistry teacher San Marcos High School San Marcos Linette M Watkins Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Southwest Texas State University Teacher activity as described by grantee Biodesulfurization of Recalcitrant Organosulfur Compounds The overall goal of Leanne Teneyuque-Rios’ summer research project will be to generate a recombinant library of enzymes with enhanced specificity for one and two ring recalcitrant organosulfur compounds This coincides with the goal of the Advanced Technology Program supported project to find engineered bacteria that are able to remove these compounds from crude oil Using DNA shuffling techniques, Mrs Rios will recombine the genes from the IGTS8 bacteria and the genes from the A3H1 bacteria to form a novel library of enzymes She will then use a growthbased assay to identify bacteria with enhanced activity toward the one and two ring recalcitrant compounds She will work directly with the principal investigator to learn the techniques needed for this project, specifically, DNA shuffling and high-throughput screening Mrs Rios has previous experience in an academic research lab and will be able to use her previous knowledge of cell culture and molecular biology techniques to significantly contribute to the development of this research project Furthermore, she will be able to take this knowledge back to her high school classes so that ultimately the students in her Chemistry classes will benefit from this research experience Mary Booth Lyle Biology and Chemistry teacher La Grange High School La Grange Patrick W Dunne Professor Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Public Health Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Generating Conditional FMDV Resistance in Cattle by Inducible Ribozyme Degradation of IRES RNA Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is the cause of a highly contagious disease of cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals The FMDV genome is a single-stranded RNA that is translated to produce a protease-processed polyprotein in infected tissue The translation of the viral genome is directed by a conserved virus sequence termed an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) that guides host ribosomes to express virus proteins To prevent the spread of the disease to animals following initial virus exposure, the goal of this project is to express catalytically active antisense RNA (ribozymes) that disrupt the FMDV IRES element in livestock Using an inducible promoter to drive expression of the ribozyme transgene, animals can be protected rapidly by feeding inducer-containing feed The first step in achieving this goal is to synthesize a DNA copy of the IRES element based on published sequence data Using six 107 base-pair oligonucleotides spanning the Pan Asia strain IRES element as templates, we have now synthesized de novo the complete IRES fragment by PCR The complete IRES was then subcloned in-frame to a luciferase reporter gene Our next step is to synthesize antiIRES ribozymes and siRNAs using the cloned IRES as template and test their antiviral activity in cell culture Mary Lyle will participate in the testing of one or more ribozyme and/or siRNA expression cassettes for their efficacy in inhibiting FMDV IRES-mediated expression of the luciferase reporter Ms Lyle will add to her store of knowledge of recombinant DNA techniques as well as her knowledge of enzyme activity analysis Teachers and Professors Jasson Conner Chemistry, Wildlife and Agriculture teacher Amarillo Center for Advanced Learning Amarillo L Wayne Greene Professor Amarillo Research Center Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Judy Taylor Anatomy, Physiology and Biology teacher Stephenville High School Stephenville James P Muir Professor Stephenville Agricultural Experiment Station Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Teacher activity as described by grantee Conservation of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Open-Lot Cattle Feedyards Mr Conner who is supported by this grant will assist graduate students and research staff at the Texas Agricultural Research Center in Amarillo to conduct a final feeding study that will finalize the data collection, analysis and reporting for this project Mr Conner is responsible for teaching high school animal science and chemistry at the Amarillo Area Center for Advanced Learning, which is part of the Amarillo Independent School District He will be introduced to environmental problems facing the beef cattle feeding industry in the Texas panhandle and introduce these problems and solutions to his classes He will study methods to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus excretion in concentrated animal feeding operations along with nutritional feeding management techniques to improve water, soil and air quality His daily work will consist of assisting existing personnel in completing an experiment designed to reduce the supplemental protein (nitrogen) in the diet without reducing the economics of animal production This will be done by dietary treatments that increase the efficiency of nutrient use, thereby, reducing excess amounts being excreted to the environment Mr Conner will be involved with the daily care and management of feedlot animal subjects and collection of samples for laboratory analysis Sustainable Cultivated Pasture Systems for Texas Meat Goats Judy Taylor will be invited back to complete her work with previously unstudied native legumes of the Texas Cross Timbers Utilizing plant samples collected in previous years, she will compare in sacco degradability of various beneficial (crude protein and acid detergent fiber) and anti-quality (lignin and condensed tannins) plant components in both a typical browser (goats) and a grazer (steer) Results will assist us in understanding the dynamics of ruminant digestibility of browsed legumes and how these dynamics can be utilized to protect native Texas germplasm from extinction from domesticated herbivores In addition, Ms Taylor will run statistical analyses on data collected the previous years and publish these results in the Native Plant Journal These will likely encompass two articles, one dealing with the seed/foliage trade-off involved in herbivory of native legumes while the other will focus on herbivore dynamics as indicated from in sacco degradability in rumen-fistulated animals Teachers and Professors Glenda Overfelt Biology and Chemistry teacher Del Rio High School Del Rio Ranjan S Muttiah Professor Blackland Research & Extension Center Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Teacher activity as described by grantee Hydrology and Salinity Monitoring and Modeling Along the Middle Rio Grande The objective of the proposed work by Glenda Overfelt, a science teacher from Del Rio High School, is to separate local climatic influences on the inflows to Lake Amistad In addition to being meritorious by itself, determining the influence of local variability on the flows and lake levels will help the Advanced Technology Program project which seeks to determine local and regional influences on flow regimes into Amistad Specifically, the following questions will be addressed: 1) how are daily streamflows into Lake Amistad responding to local daily rainfall variability, and 2) how are the lake levels in Amistad responding to variability of inflows Lake Amistad receives inflows from the Rio Grande, Pecos, and Devils rivers The primary contributors to Rio Grande and Pecos flows are the snow melt in Colorado, and New Mexico, respectively Baseflow from the Edwards aquifer is the main contributor to flows of the Devils river Rain gauges within a 500 km footprint of the lake will be obtained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)-National Weather Service (NWS) website, and a nominal year of rainfall (50% exceedence probability) and wet year (95% exceedence) will be identified for each rain gauge The nearest stream gauge to each NCDC-NWS weather station will be identified using maps such as stream networks, gauge loci, and Digital Orthophoto Quads (DOQQ) generated in a Geographic Information System (GIS) Stream gauge data are readily available from the International Boundary Commission (IBWC), and the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) websites Daily lake levels are available from the IBWC Standard statistical hypothesis tests, and newer variance tests using wavelets will be employed to assign statistical significance between rainfall, inflow, and lake levels Robert E Richards Physics, Chemistry and Biology teacher Bryan High School – Silver Campus Bryan Real-Time Drought Assessment and Forecasting System for Texas Using GIS and Remote Sensing Mr Richards will be assisting with data collection and processing for this project Also, statistical analysis of data during the post-processing phase will be extremely important, and a valuable contribution to the research Raghavan Srinivasan Professor Forest Science Texas A&M University Teachers and Professors Tami Dudo Algebra and Calculus teacher A&M Consolidated High School College Station K T Hartwig Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering Texas Engineering Experiment Station Teacher activity as described by grantee Manufacture of Improved Thermoelectric Materials We plan for Ms Dudo to assist on our TDT project in two areas In the first case, she will threedimensional geometric modeling of extrusion billet losses after multi-pass equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) This is important because of industry’s desire to maximize fully processed material yield Several different multi-pass extrusion schedules are being considered for industrial processing schedules The route that minimizes billet losses and also accomplishes the best micro-structural refinement in the fewest number of passes (least number of handling steps) will be the most economically attractive The results of this work will be of practical benefit to the industrial cosponsors (Marlow Industries, Dallas, Texas) and will be publishable The second area of work will be the preparation and characterization of bulk Bi 2Te3 following consolidation of powdered precursor materials Most Bi 2Te3 materials used for thermoelectric devices by Marlow’s competitors are prepared following a powder metallurgy route It would be of interest for us to examine the microstructure of such material consolidated via ECAE As an extension of this powder metallurgy approach, we plan to prepare a batch of nano-structured starting powders, using high energy ball milling, to see if consolidation of such materials gives any thermoelectric performance advantages The results of this second study will hopefully shed light on special benefits gained from ultra-fine-grained bulk Bi 2Te3 alloys James Bassett Geometry and Precalculus teacher A&M Consolidated High School College Station Jyh-Charn Liu Professor Computer Science Department Texas Engineering Experiment Station On the Statistical/Bio-Physical Extraction of Textural Features of Imagery Databases A major research opportunity for Mr Bassett to participate in our project is geometric modeling of the 3-D images of living cells, which are acquired by high resolution imaging systems in the veterinary school As a part of the effort to create texture-based imagery databases, the slice-scanned 3-D images need to be reconstructed, so that users can visualize the physical shape, look, and measurement of the cell, from inside to outside The original research team will work on image processing methods to segment major landmarks of cells, and Mr Bassett will be asked to use his expertise to create different affine transforms, and their corresponding mappings to a regular display screen The research team will work with Mr Bassett to select the proper implementation tools to visualize the cell from different angles, and he can take the resulting work back to his classroom for teaching purposes, and inspire students to see the values of geometry and other related math to real life applications Teachers and Professors Edward McGinley Anatomy, physiology, gerontology, and pharmacology teacher Green B Trimble Technical High School Fort Worth Sajal K Das Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering The University of Texas at Arlington Teacher activity as described by grantee Flexible Integrated Caching Approach (FICA) for Efficient Content Delivery in Wireless Internet Mr Edward McGinley is a Health Science Technology teacher as well as a trainer of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) His association in our Texas ARP-funded project will be extremely useful in validating telemedicine applications of the wireless internet The ongoing project is about efficient content delivery to users of the wireless internet on their handheld devices EMTs (and of course victims of accidents and disasters) would benefit greatly if all the required information (such as medical history, traffic scenario, advice from medical specialists, etc.,) were available on a handheld device via the wireless internet Through this grant we will be in a position to develop a prototype for telemedicine applications of the wireless internet More importantly, Mr McGinley will transfer the knowledge acquired to his students and this, in turn, will result in the acceptance of technology by future EMTs During the five weeks of the grant period, it is envisioned that the following objectives will be achieved: Mr McGinley will be given hands-on experience with wireless internet and content delivery on handheld devices Mr McGinley will talk to us about the issues and challenges of EMTs and how they can benefit from information technology The development of a simple prototype on the application of wireless internet Jay B Atman Physics teacher James Martin High School Arlington Suresh C Sharma Professor Department of Physics The University of Texas at Arlington Newly Discovered Radiation Detector: Nanometer Size Liquid Crystal Droplets in Polymer Mr Atman was the recipient of the “Supplemental High School Teacher Grant” on the same project during the summer of 2002 He did an excellent job in learning about the research project, carrying out optical characterization of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) cells, and carrying the enthusiasm of his research experience back to his students at the high school He even got his APPhysics class involved in some aspects of the research in my laboratories Mr Atman will participate in research (along with one graduate student, one postdoctoral research associate, and one undergraduate) on the optical characterization of the PDLC’s and their development as radiation detectors He will gain invaluable experience with laser spectroscopy, physics of radiation-induced phenomena in materials, and data acquisition/analysis techniques This grant will also provide an opportunity for Mr Atman to participate in the preparation of manuscripts that will be submitted with his co-authorship for publications 14 Teachers and Professors Terry Frentrop Physics teacher The Academy of Irving ISD Irving Panayiotis S Shiakolas Professor Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering The University of Texas at Arlington Teacher activity as described by grantee Manufacturing of Affordable Single Use BioMEMS Mr Frentrop will be working with a team consisting of two professors, Ph.D.s, Masters, and undergraduate students researching and developing a hot embossing microfabrication manufacturing system for the fabrication of single-use, inexpensive bio-sensors Mr Frentrop will familiarize himself with the project objectives and the usage of the main equipment: a femtosecond laser with a 3-degree of freedom moving platform (a laser will be used as a CNC machine tool to generate a mold), and a hot embossing micro-manufacturing system on a material testing machine (to create the part from the mold) and the LabView software for local and internetbased control A number of auxiliary high technology equipment and subsystems (motion, heating, cooling, etc.) will provide a unique environment for Mr Frentrop to be exposed to and understand these technologies and contribute to the current research being performed Mr Frentrop will be employed in a research and development environment that emphasizes an ultimate goal of conveying a manufacturing process to the real-world and will contribute to the project in activities as noted He will receive hands on experience that can be transferred back to the physics classroom and lab He will be able to communicate to students, real-world applications of higher level research and design Exposure with LabView will allow the teacher to evaluate the possibility of utilizing LabView at the secondary level, which allow students to remotely access and control labs of their design He will be researching the development of a postprocessor based on mold features to drive the laser for machining the mold In addition, Mr Frentrop will participate in the design of experiments to identify the influence of process parameters on the quality and performance of the biosensor and eventually modify the process parameters to meet performance requirements Dean Mohlman Biology teacher St Stephen’s Episcopal School Austin Stephen F Martin Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry The University of Texas at Austin Probing the Structural Basis for Enzyme Specificity Mr Mohlman will carry out experiments involving site-directed mutagenesis to prepare transformants of PLCBC having altered specificity profiles He will purify protein and grow crystals for X-ray crystallographic studies of complexes of the mutants with non hydrolysable substrate analogues to try to obtain insights regarding the structural basis for the specificity of PLCBC During the course of this work he will learn and apply standard biochemical techniques involved in mutagenesis, protein expression and purification 15 Teachers and Professors Charlotte May Calculus and Algebra teacher Bowie High School Austin Christine E Schmidt Professor Department of Chemical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin Teacher activity as described by grantee Electronic Nanoparticle-Tissue Composites for Targeted Biomolecular Delivery With the rapid development of nanoelectronic fabrication and nanostructure synthetic techniques, there exists a unique opportunity to interface living cells with electronic materials technologies for potential medical and sensing applications, as well as new fundamental physiological studies that probe the nanoscale features of cellular processes This ARP project specifically aims to interface semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots with cellular tissues through cell-receptor mediated molecular recognition to surface-functionalized quantum dots The goal is to optically induce an electronic response in the nanocrystals that translates into a cellular response, such as the release of a desired chemical Dr May, a high school math teacher, will work with Professors Schmidt and Korgel and a graduate student to estimate the quantitative relationship between the electric field generated within the nanocrystals and the intensity of the cellular response These calculations will be very important for optimizing the nanocrystal properties, such as size and surface chemical modification, as well as the binding location on the cell itself Chris Cotter Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Physical Science, Environmental Science and Math teacher Akins High School Austin Dying Stars, Living Planets Don Winget Professor Department of Astronomy The University of Texas at Austin This is the first search sensitive enough to detect planetary systems dynamically similar to our own Mr Cotter will be a co-author on the research we carry out this summer He will participate in the full spectrum of scientific research from planning to publication, and co-author the scientific papers we submit based on our research Chris Cotter will serve as collaborator on this research project He will carry out observations of white dwarf stars at The University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory using the Argos CCD prime-focus, high-speed photometer and assist in the reduction, analysis and interpretation of the data The goal is to discover new pulsating white dwarf stars and use variations of the pulse arrival times to search for reflex orbital motion as a signature of extrasolar planets 16 Teachers and Professors Richard Sulfstede Chemistry teacher The Colony High School The Colony Kenneth J Balkus, Jr Professor Department of Chemistry The University of Texas at Dallas Jay Ingram Chemistry teacher North Garland High School Garland Juan E Gonzalez Professor Department of Molecular and Cell Biology The University of Texas at Dallas Teacher activity as described by grantee Nanostructured Hybrid Membranes for High Temperature Fuel Cells As part of a collaborative effort with Los Alamos National Labs to provide fresh concepts in Fuel Cell Technology, we have proposed to develop novel, high-temperature, polymer-electrolyte membranes These next generation fuel cells will perform well at temperatures in the 150-180 oC range where CO tolerance is substantially improved, minimize fuel crossover and water transport for direct methanol fuel cells, and will be tolerant to impurities in the feed stream As part of this effort Mr Sulfstede will conduct the synthesis and characterization of proton conducting polymers within the pores of functionalized mesoporous molecular sieves Mr Sulfstede will be exposed to contemporary organic and inorganic wet chemical methods as well as state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation These novel materials will be incorporated into a test fuel cell as flat membranes either in the form of polymer composites or as free standing films A fuel cell test station will be used to evaluate the membrane conductivity via impedance measurements Host-plant Interference in Sinorhizobium meliloti Quorum Sensing In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that many important bacterial activities such as motility, and the synthesis of exoenzymes, exopolysaccharides, surfactants and antibiotics are regulated in a population density-dependent manner These activities are essential for the effective colonization and pathogenesis of animal or plant hosts Density-dependent regulation of gene expression (“quorum sensing”) involves the production, release and detection of small, extra-cellular signal molecules termed autoinducers In our laboratory we study the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis between the leguminous plant Medicago sativa (alfalfa) and the Gram-negative bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti We have demonstrated that S meliloti produces a variety of N-Acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) signals, the most common autoinducers produced by Gram-negative bacteria We have obtained strong evidence that alfalfa indeed produces AHL-mimic compounds These compounds affect the expression of quorum-sensing regulated genes in two commonly used reporter strains (Chromobacterium violaceum and Agrobacterium tumefaciens) Furthermore, we have demonstrated that these plant-produced AHL-mimics alter the pattern of autoinducer production in S meliloti Ms Dingrando will examine (in close collaboration with the Principal Investigator) the effect of alfalfa AHL-mimics on the S meliloti quorum-sensing systems as well as their role in overall S meliloti gene regulation It is exciting to consider the possibility that many eukaryotic hosts could be capable of interfering with the quorum-sensing behavior of associated pathogenic/symbiotic bacteria The proposed study will provide a better understanding of the symbiotic/pathogenic relationships between prokaryotes and their eukaryotic hosts and could potentially provide tools for the control and manipulation of such relationships 17 Teachers and Professors Lee R Silva Biology teacher Clark High School Plano A Dean Sherry Professor Department of Chemistry The University of Texas at Dallas Nilda N Camarena Chemistry and Physics teacher Nikki Rowe High School McAllen Hassan Ahmad Professor Department of Chemistry The University of Texas-Pan American Teacher activity as described by grantee MT Contrast Agents: A New Paradigm in Molecular Imaging The goal of this research is to develop a new type of MRI contrast agent that “responds” to various biological events inside the human body We have recently discovered a new class of lanthanide complexes wherein a Ln 3+-bound water molecule is in slow exchange with bulk water Last summer we designed and began the synthesis of a tetra-amide macrocyclic ligand containing two appended peptides that could form a compact folded structure above a Ln 3+-bound water molecule The goal of this summer project is to finish the synthesis of this molecule and begin its characterization, as well as the synthesis of a modified design with a different protein motif attached to the macrocycle Peptides will be synthesized on an automated peptide synthesizer using standard Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis protocols Purification will be carried out using reverse phase HPLC Circular dichroism will be used to characterize the secondary structure and folding properties of the purified peptides We will then test the hypothesis that water exchange with bulk solvent can be altered by enzymatic cleavage of those peptide chains, thereby exposing bound water to bulk solvent This will be detected using magnetization transfer NMR techniques Biological Activities of Citrus Flavonoids Mrs Nilda Camarena, a chemistry and physics teacher has an excellent educational background She has had undergraduate research experience and plans to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry Her knowledge and lab experience will help her assist us in the isolation and characterization of the gluthathione S-transferase (GST) isoenzymes The tissues extracted from animals which are administered with citrus flavonoids will be used to isolate the isoenzymes A new approach using reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), will be applied to isolate the closely related and small amounts of GST that may have high carcinogenic activities The patterns of GST isoenzymes from tissue of control and experimental animals will reveal which of the isoenzymes is specifically induced by the flavonoids The functional and immunological characterization of these isoenzymes will reveal their significance in metabolism of carcinogens This experience should significantly enhance her ability to convey the importance and realities of chemical and/or biochemical research to her students at the high school The research experience will also give her a competitive edge for her future master’s endeavors and directly benefit the ATP grant 18 Teachers and Professors Abraham Frias Physics and Chemistry teacher Harlandale High School San Antonio Dibyendu Sarker Professor Department of Earth and Environmental Science The University of Texas at San Antonio Teacher activity as described by grantee Geochemical Fate and Bioavailability of Arsenic in Pesticide-Applied Soils: Phase 1: In-Vitro Study Years of widespread application of arsenic (As)-based pesticides have increased the background concentrations of As in agricultural soils, such as the cotton fields of Texas Due to rapid encroachment of suburban development on former agricultural lands, soil ingestion from incidental hand-to-mouth activity is now an important issue in assessing human health risks associated with exposure to this Group-A carcinogen Studies suggest that arsenic bioavailability in soils is generally significantly less than 100 percent, the default value currently used for many baseline risk assessments Apparently, this practice seriously over-estimates the potential risk associated with the ingestion of As from soil, thereby elevating the remedial costs The huge expense associated with conducting case-specific in-vivo bioavailability studies (animal models) dictates use of this overlyconservative (and unrealistic) approach; if an appropriate in-vitro method is identified that simulates the in-vivo data, then it might be possible to inexpensively generate reliable, case-specific risk numbers for As-enriched systems Ongoing research funded by the ARP-2001 program has been instrumental in developing an in-vitro technique that is currently being tested for a variety of soils Mr Abraham Frias, who is a minority (Hispanic) graduate student at UTSA and a high school science teacher in San Antonio, will work on the cotton soils of Texas, which have been reported to have much higher background concentrations of As due to repeated applications of As-based pesticides over the years He will try to dissect the relationship between soil-speciation of As and As bioavailability in the Houston Black soil series (the State soil of Texas, most commonly used for growing cotton) amended with one inorganic and one organic arsenical pesticide (as a function of pesticide loading rate) using our in-vitro model This project will start in Summer 2003 when approximately 60 percent of the work will be completed; Mr Frias will volunteer his time in December 2003 to finish the remaining work (final analysis after month soil equilibration) This project will contribute towards the M.S thesis requirements (in environmental science) of Mr Frias who will be trained in state-of-the-art analytical techniques available in the Environmental Geochemistry Lab at UTSA These activities will also allow him to show his high school students the relevance of chemistry to modern environmental problems, and give him the opportunity to participate as an important member of a “real” science team If amenable, Mr Frias will organize a field trip to bring his students to our facilities after completion of the project to demonstrate how scientific research is done using modern analytical technology 19 Teachers and Professors Deborah Baker Biology and Geology teacher Clear Lake High School Houston Ashok K Chopra Professor Department of Microbiology and Immunology The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Teacher activity as described by grantee Alteration in Bacterial Virulence and Host Responses Under Simulated Microgravity Ms Deborah Baker recruited under the ATP grant will learn microbiological, tissue culture, and molecular biological techniques More specifically, Ms Baker would learn to grow human pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli under normal gravity (2D) and microgravity (3D) conditions using NASA-developed bioreactors In a similar fashion, she will learn to culture host cells, such as macrophages and epithelial cells under 2D versus 3D conditions as well as to coculture bacteria and host cells under these two conditions She will also be exposed to and perform molecular biological techniques such as plasmid DNA isolation, FNA isolation, and Southern and Northern blot analyses In addition, she will be trained in performing 2-dimensional (2D) electrophoresis to examine these proteins of bacteria that are differentially expressed under 2D versus 3E conditions We believe that Ms Baker will become familiar with the techniques within weeks For the next weeks, she will be independently performing 2D electrophoresis of S typhimurium under 2D versus 3D-grown bacteria and analyzing the data using computer-driven software She could reach a point during this time where it would be possible to identify 1-2 proteins that are differentially expressed under these two conditions in collaboration with our proteomics core facility Ms Baker will use the last weeks in our genomics core facility to learn S typhimurium microarray analysis The Principal Investigator’s laboratory has these microarrays based on the genome sequence of S typhimurium Ms Baker will be involved in isolating RNA from Salmonella under 2D- versus 3D conditions and to examine differential expression of Salmonella genes under these two conditions in collaboration with our genomic core facility These are cutting-edge tools that teachers should learn in order to better train students in high school 20 Teachers and Professors Shawna Hampton-Riddle Chemistry teacher Ball High School Galveston Randall M Goldblum, M.D Professor Department of Pediatrics The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Teacher activity as described by grantee Phylogenetic Approach to the Treatment of Pollen Allergy The overall objective of this project is to test the hypothesis that probing the biodiversity of plants will identify natural sources for antigenic extracts that will improve immunization against pollen hypersensitivities Ms Hampton-Riddle’s activities will be related to specific objective in our proposal (identify variants of Jun a that have non-conserved amino acid variations ions in the lgE binding sites (epitopes), and use homology modeling to determine which are likely to alter the 3D structure of one or more lgE epitopes) During the first year of this proposal we have cloned and sequenced over 100 of the phylogenetic homologues of the mountain cedar allergen Jun a Shawna Hampton-Riddle will first analyze the sequences of the Jun a homologues to identify those that contain non-conserved amino acid substitutions, using programs within the GCG suite Next she will identify those variants with amino acid substitution within or near identified lgE epitopes Working with our collaborators in the Sealy Center for Structural Biology, Ms Hampton-Riddle will identify those variants with the highest probability of having large changes in the physico-chemical properties of one or more epitopes If time permits, she will also work with Dr Catherine Schein to develop a 3D computer model of a variant and compare it to that of the sensitizing (Jun a 3) allergen During this same time period, others in the lab will be expressing allergen variants and testing their binding of lgE from allergic patients Thus, Ms Hampton-Riddle will have an opportunity to learn computational and experimental approaches for identifying and testing variant structures for biological activity This experience will provide a wealth of examples, which she can take back to her classroom to show how chemistry can be used to develop new technologies for treatment of common illnesses Donald Winsor Biology teacher Dulles High School Sugar Land Flotillin-2 in Metastic Melanoma Madeleine Duvic Professor Department of Dermatology The University of Texas M.D Anderson Cancer Center One of the goals of the ARP-funded project is to inhibit the expression of Flotillin-2 in melanoma cell lines and Dr Winsor will assist us in achieving this goal He will work directly with Dr Madeleine Duvic learning new techniques in molecular and cell biology Specifically Dr Winsor will learn how to transfect cells using a vector with antisense Flotillin-2, check the level of protein expression, and create stably transfected cell lines Dr Winsor is a high school teacher of honors and advanced levels biology with an exceptional educational background He has prior experience at the Texas Medical Center In addition to contributing to the success of the ARP-funded project, the techniques learned and the knowledge gained will be beneficial to Dr Winsor in teaching his advanced biology curriculum 21 Teachers and Professors Ward S Coats Chemistry teacher Hillcrest High School Dallas Teacher activity as described by grantee A Test for HERG Blockers Based on Heterologous Expression in C Elegans Dr Coats will investigate aspects of gene expression in animals using current molecular biological, genetic and physiologic techniques Leon Avery Professor Department of Molecular Biology The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Tom Johnson Algebra teacher Amarillo Area Center for Advanced Learning Amarillo Reducing Odors and Flies at Texas Cattle Feed Yards Tom Johnson will assist in collecting data and analyzing samples to determine the effectiveness of Zeolite in cattle food as an odor control and anti-dust agent for Texas feedlots David B Parker Professor Division of Agriculture West Texas A&M University Leslie Harman Biology and Chemistry teacher Happy High School Happy Greta Schuster Professor Division of Agriculture West Texas A&M University Reducing Odors and Flies at Texas Cattle Feed Yards Ms Harman will assist in several research projects The first will be in the evaluation of biotic and abiotic factors associated with stable fly dispersal He will also be involved with the evaluation of the significance of stable fly dispersal among CAFO’s and other environments in the Texas Panhandle This study will be conducted during June and August Releases will be conducted twice in each month, once at the beginning and at the end of the month This will allow us to observe dispersal activities during low vs peak activity and at different temperature and moisture conditions For these studies two commercial CAFOs will be used: One will be located miles east of Hereford, Texas with a 50,000 head capacity with surrounding feedyards about 10 to 15 miles to the east, west, south, and north (This yard is 45 minutes west of West Texas A&M University) The second feedyard is 45 minutes southeast of West Texas A&M University with 50,000 head capacity, with the nearest feedyard located 20-25 miles away This feedyard is miles from the nearest town, Tulia, Texas The second project will include determining the chronological and physiological age profiles of stable flies as these relate to the flies’ population dynamics and how environmental conditions may have an effect on the Texas High Plains population 22 Summary of 2003 Supplemental Grants Awards and Participants Supplemental Grants to High School Science and Math Teachers - Summer 2003 Awards by Program and Year of Original Award 1999 Projects Program Number of Awards Dollars Awarded ARP ATP TDT Totals Dollars Awarded Number of Awards Dollars Awarded 15 $113,400 15 $113,400 28 $198,000 29 $206,100 $ 16,200 $ 16,200 $8,100 46 $227,600 47 $335,700 $8,100 $ Totals Number of Awards $ 2001 Projects Projects selected in the 2001 Advanced Research Program and Advanced Technology Program (ARP/ATP) grants competition were eligible to receive Supplemental Grants to High School Teachers for summer 2003 Additionally, three projects funded in 1999 that received no-cost extensions were also eligible to participate Technology Development and Transfer (TDT) grants are made in the ATP to commercialize research discoveries Four of the teachers participating in this summer research program have a doctoral degrees, 16 have master’s degrees (including Master of Science degrees), and 27 have bachelor’s degrees (including 21 Bachelor of Science degrees) The doctoral degrees were awarded in applied mechanics, mathematical education, biochemistry, and microbiology The master’s and bachelor’s degrees were awarded in various areas of science, math, physics, education, and engineering 23 Supplemental Grants to High School Science and Math Teachers – Summer 2003 Gender of Participants by Program Teachers Investigators Program Male Female Total Male Female Total ARP 11 15 13 15 ATP 13 17 30 27 30 TDT 2 2 Totals 24 23 47 42 47 Technology Development and Transfer (TDT) grants are made in the ATP to commercialize research discoveries The participating teachers are split evenly between male and female, while the majority of the investigators are male Nineteen of the teachers also participated in the 2002 supplemental grants program Five of the teachers participated in both the 2000, 2001 and 2002 programs and one participated in all four years of the program Fourteen of the teachers will be working with the professor who supervised their research during the summer of 2002 Six of the professors with 2002 supplemental grants also received 2001 grants Two of the professors have participated in all five summers 24 Name Index Aguas, Tricia N 12 Ahmad, Prof Hassan 18 Ardoin, Bonnie J Atman, Jay B 14 Avery, Prof Leon .22 Baker, Deborah 20 Balkus, Prof Kenneth J 17 Baraniuk, Prof Richard Bassett, James Butcher, Frank 12 Camarena, Nilda N 18 Casadonte, Prof Dominick J .9 Chellam, Prof Shankar 11 Chen, Prof Daniel H Chopra, Prof Ashok K .20 Chow, Prof Diana 11 Coats, Ward S 22 Connor, Jasson Cotter, Chris .16 Croman, Robert B Crowell, Sonja Das, Prof Sajal L .14 Densmore, Prof Charles Dudo, Tami Dunne, Prof Patrick W Duvic, Prof Madeleine 21 Eyre, Sean .13 Fortenberry, Gary .10 Franks, Lee Frentrop, Terry 15 Freundlich, Prof Alex .11 Frias, Abraham 19 Gabor, Prof Caitlin .4 Goldblum, Prof Randall M., M.D .21 Gonzalez, Prof Juan E Gonzalez 17 Greene, Prof L Wayne .6 Hampton-Riddle, Shawna 21 Harman, Leslie 22 Hartwig, Prof K T Holmes, Matt Horton, Prof Charles .12 Ignatiev, Prof Alex 12 Ingram, Jay 17 Johnson, Tom 22 Kadish, Prof Karl .12 Koke, Prof Joseph R Koulen, Prof Peter 13 Kovacevic, Prof Radovan Kuhl, Jennifer 12 Letchford, Prof Chris Liebschner, Prof Michael Liu, Prof Jyh-Charn Lutherer, Prof Lorenz O 10 Lyle, Mary Booth Majors, Shonda Martin, Prof Stephen F 15 May, Dr Charlotte 16 McGinley, Edward 14 McMillan, Tobi 10 Mohlman, Dean 15 Muttiah, Prof Ranjan S Muir, Prof James P Overfelt, Glenda Parker, Prof David B .22 Passos, Prof Nelson Luiz Peikert, Brett Perez, Prof Jose .13 Price, Clyde A 13 Richards, Robert E Sarker, Prof Dibyendu 19 Schmidt, Prof Christine E 16 Schuller, Wiley P .11 Sharma, Prof Suresh C 14 Schuster, Prof Greta .22 Sherry, Prof A Dean .18 Shiakolas, Prof Panayiotis S 15 Silva, Lee R 18 Srinivasan, Prof Raghavan .7 Stanley, Belinda .11 Starikov, Prof David 13 Statt, Steven .11 Straus, Prof David C .10 Sulfstede, Richard L 17 Taylor, Judy Taylor, Teresa .4 Teneyuque-Rios, Leanne Trahan, Debbie Watkins, Prof Linette M .5 Wigmans, Prof Richard .9 Winget, Prof Don .16 Winsor, Donald 21 Wuthrich, Cerise Yannazzo, Jo-Ann S 13 Zenker, Jessica Related documents available from the Division of Finance, Campus Planning and Research: Research Experiences for High School Science Teachers, Summer 2002 Follow-Up Report on the Summer 1999 Supplemental Program to Provide Research Experiences for High School Science and Math Teachers, June 2000 Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology Program Fiscal Year 1999 Progress Report with a Special Report on Texas-Mexico Border Research 1998 – 2000 Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology Program, 2003 Program Announcements Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology Program, Report of Awards, May 2002 Information is also available on our website: http://www.arpatp.com For further information about this program, contact: Dr Linda Domelsmith Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Division of Finance, Campus Planning and Research P.O Box 12788 Austin, Texas 78711 (512) 427-6150 E-mail: linda.domelsmith@thecb.state.tx.us The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age or disability in employment or the provision of services Printed on Recycled Paper ... Planning and Research: Research Experiences for High School Science Teachers, Summer 2002 Follow-Up Report on the Summer 1999 Supplemental Program to Provide Research Experiences for High School Science. .. university and industry to provide career guidance and enhancement at Kaufman High School This will also expose the high school students to university and industry level research and career concepts... microbiology The master’s and bachelor’s degrees were awarded in various areas of science, math, physics, education, and engineering 23 Supplemental Grants to High School Science and Math Teachers – Summer