New Funding for Gene and Genome Course

The Biology Department has recently received funds from the National Science Foundation to use its experience developed while implementing the Gene and Genome Analysis class (Biology 383H) in new partnership with Holyoke Community College (HCC). The Gene and Genome class is built around student-designed labs with just the right amount of instructor input to keep student teams engaged and progressing. The class allows students to work in teams to discover the functions of unique plant genes. The new funding will allow instructional methods developed in the UMass Gene and Genome course to be implemented at HCC. The overall goal is to leverage the individual strengths of the two institutions to develop new laboratory courses that focus on renewable energy.