AMR: Research, Education, and Empowerment

Teachers play an important role in student engagement in STEM. 

Through an NSF grant (Research Experiences for Teachers Sites in Biological Sciences (BIORETS)) we plan to engage high school STEM teachers in research opportunities to enhance their scientific thinking and excitement in research and discovery, as well as foster collaborations between STEM teachers from different schools and researchers. Teachers can then bring their experiences back to the classroom to enrich their teaching and inspiring students to consider careers in STEM. This is a research and professional development experience for the teachers.

Our Antimicrobial Resistance Research Experience for Teachers focuses on the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Due to the inevitability of microbes evolving mechanisms to protect themselves against the antimicrobial treatments we have designed to kill them and the difficulty of producing new effective antimicrobial treatments, we need to come up with new ideas for how to destroy the microbes that cause disease. 

Our research partner laboratories work on different aspects of the problem of AMR. The teachers that join our BIORET site (research experience for teachers in biological sciences) will be taught different research skills that they will then be able to use when working with one of these research labs on a project during the summer. The personnel in the research labs will gain experience in mentoring and supporting the teachers in their research. The teachers will gain information about research and AMR, as well as working together with other teachers to develop high school curriculum that they can bring back to their students. The high school students will then learn about AMR and be given the opportunity to increase their interest in STEM.

Are you a high school teacher interested in learning more? Visit our Information page for Teachers to learn more about this summer research opportunity and to fill out an application.

Are you a researcher interested in partnering with us by hosting a teacher for a summer research experience? Please visit our Research partners information page to learn more.

Want to know more about us? Visit Our Team page