Outreach Activities
K-12 Education
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Every summer, I organize and teach a summer course titled "Environmental Forensics". We target 8th-12th graders from underperforming schools in Oklahoma with a four week course exposing students to basic tools to molecular detection of genetic signal in cultures and environmental samples. Typically, 6-8 students join us for experiments in which we isolate organisms, extract DNA, learn about PCR, and identity strains based on DNA sequence. |
Theoretical and Practical Course on Molecular Approaches for in situ Biodegradation (2009)
I participated in the The United States - European Commission Task Force on Biotechnology Research sponsored course on the Theoretical and Practical Applications of Molecular Approaches for in situ Biodegradation to be held at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, from May 24th to June 7th, 2009. The course was open to senior graduate students and junior postdoctoral fellows who have training in molecular microbiology and/or microbial ecology and who want to apply those skills to solving environmental problems. The course was designed to provide hands-on experience in modern, up-to-date biotechnological methods for the analysis of microbes and their activities in the remediation of pollutants in the environment. The course is limited to 12 US and 12 EU students. We participated by teaching a section on mRNA detection in environmental samples. For more information, please visit the course website at: http://www.ou.edu/environbiotech09/ |
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