Funding for Faculty Release Time

• Development of Zoo 436-Functional Invertebrate Zoology and Zoo 405 Vertebrate Development
• Reorganization of BIO 431, ZOO 331, and ZOO 332 labs to include effective use of recently purchased BIOPAC physiology equipment.

Funding for Faculty Travel

• Herpetology Field Trips to the Mojave Desert
• Experimental Biology Meeting
• Wildlife Society Meeting
• The Compositae Alliance First International Meeting
• American Society for Cell Biology National Meeting
• Western Society of Naturalists, Annual Meeting
• FASEB, Experimental Biology ‘03

Development of Zoo 436-Functional Invertebrate Zoology and Zoo 405 Vertebrate Development

• Name: Nikki Adams
• Number of WTUs Requested: 4WTUs
• Start Date: Spring 2003 Completion Date Summer 2003

I am requesting release time during the Spring 2003 quarter to develop lectures and laboratory exercises for Zoo 436-Functional Invertebrate Zoology. This course has not been taught for many years and I have never taught it. In the past it was organized quite similarly to Zoo336-Invertebrate Zoology. I would like to redesign the course to include a considerable amount of fieldwork to explore a diversity of adaptations of invertebrates to local habitats. I would also like to include more experimental types of laboratory exercises that explore physiological parameters of invertebrates. I must visit and identify suitable field sites and test equipment and experimental protocols to optimize these new laboratory exercises. In addition, I would like to create a laboratory manual to accompany the course. Redesigning this course as part of a sequence with Zoo336 will make this course more appealing for undergraduate and graduate students and will allow it to be offered every year instead of intermittently as has been the case in the past.

This release time will also allow me to redesign Zoo405-Vertebrate Development, which was previously taught by Dr. Waterbury. This course has been taught recently and is well organized. Nevertheless, I have never taught the course and request time to develop lectures and new laboratory exercises. Both of these courses are upper division courses that will help both undergraduate and graduate students diversify their course options and educational experiences.

Reorganization of BIO 431, ZOO 331, and ZOO 332 labs to include effective use of recently purchased BIOPAC physiology equipment.

• Maria Florez-Duquet
• Number of WTUs Requested: 2.0
• Start Date: 4/1/03 Completion Date: 6/13/03

Recently, the CFC approved the purchase of several BIOPAC systems for use in animal/human physiology courses taught in Biology. Each system can be used to collect data from human or animal subjects (i.e., EKG, skeletal muscle fatigue, cardiac contractile force, etc.). The equipment was sorely needed to provide Biology students with access to modern methods of acquiring and analyzing physiological data. To date, this equipment has not been fully utilized in the physiology courses offered in the department. A significant block of time is needed to reorganize the existing physiology labs and integrate the equipment into our biology lab classes. It is not possible to accomplish this task while also teaching a full teaching load.

All physiological transducers in the BIOPAC system must be calibrated before use. French Morgan started working on the transducers over the summer. However, he no longer has the time to set-up the BIOPAC systems. In addition to manually calibrating the equipment we must also write our own laboratory exercises. Although we purchased BIOPAC lab manuals with each system, the company is not allowing us to reproduce their activities. It is essential that the students have an opportunity to read the lab activity (objectives, use of instruments, data collection/analysis assignment) before coming to class in order to complete the experiment in the allotted time. Therefore, it will be necessary to write our own exercises/lab manual for CalPoly students. I am requesting 2 units of release time to work on integrating BIOPAC physiology experiments into our existing animal/human physiology courses.

Herpetology Field Trips to the Mojave Desert - Fred Andoli

I will have made 2 trips to the Mojave Desert with my herpetology class during this fiscal year (weekend of July 22 and the last weekend of May 2003). In both cases it is an extra voluntary field trip which I pay for out of my own pocket. I am asking the committee to consider both trips together since the total cost will not exceed $620. This includes mileage reimbursement for using my own vehicle (750 miles per trip) at the state rate, $10 per trip for campground fees and $30 for food per trip. I leave SLO on Friday afternoon and return Sunday evening. There is limited ability to study live reptiles in this area due to a paucity of species. Diversity is much greater in the desert and the trip allows students to study numerous new species in their natural habitat. Most students feel this trip is the highlight of their quarter, if not the entire year. It is an educational experience which cannot be duplicated in SLO County.

Scientific Meeting: Experimental Biology - Maria Florez-Duquet

• Start Date: April 11, 2003 Completion Date: April 15, 2003
• Means of travel (air, automobile, etc): Air
• Expected cost of travel: $250 Expected cost of lodging: $350
• Other expenses included in the request: Meeting registration fee: $190
• Meals: $135; Transportation to/from airport & to/from conference site: $50
• Total requested: $975

I'm requesting funds to attend the Experimental Biology Meeting in San Diego. This is a unique scientific meeting that includes the annual meetings of six national scientific societies; it is an interdisciplinary biomedical scientific meeting. The meeting provides a stimulating environment that encourages scientists at all levels to consider how our research in a specific area relates to other disciplines in biology. It also provides me with a unique opportunity to network with colleagues in physiology from around the world. I will have the opportunity to quickly learn about current scientific discoveries and state of the art research techniques used in my field of research (systemic physiology). This will benefit undergraduate and graduate students in my research lab, since I can begin to propose new research questions and possibly begin new collaborations with physiologists from other institutions. Students in my courses will also benefit since I include current scientific discoveries in my courses.

Attending the meeting will also directly benefit students in my courses. A growing focus of the meeting is Biology education. There will be presentations on teaching innovations in anatomy, advances in reproductive biology, bringing current cardiovascular and muscle physiology research into the classroom, and developing research questions in the classroom. The information will provide all of my students (from freshman to graduate students) with a more current and complete understanding of physiology. Although I am not presenting a research poster this year attending the meeting will certainly allow me to further my research and teaching goals.

Scientific Meeting: Wildlife Society - Michael Hanson

I will attend the western Section of The Wildlife Society meetings. As a officer in the Calif. Central Coast chapter, we will meet and formulate business and planning. Students are encouraged to join The Wildlife Society, the professional organization for wildlife biologist. There will be training sessions, forums, technical sessions, and displays related to wildlife which I will attend. The meetings in the past have proven fruitful in updating my knowledge which I then use in teaching and training students. I have encouraged my students to attend and a number plan to do so; thus they will become exposed to the professional side of being a wildlife biologist, make contacts with other wildlife biologist, and expand their knowledge beyond that of the classroom.

Scientific Meeting: Deep Achene: The Compositae Alliance First International Meeting; participate in post-conference field trip; study South African biogeography - David J. Keil

• Start Date: 23 December 2002 Completion Date: 21 January 2003
• Means of travel (air, automobile, etc): air
• Cost of travel: $2191.00 (air fare) Cost of lodging: $200.00 (at conference)
• Other expenses included in the request: registration—$50.00; post-conference field trip—$620.00 (total request to Bio-CFC is $1500 - CK)

My participation in the Deep Achene meeting, post-conference field trip, and independent travel in South Africa will benefit students in three of my courses: Bot 313—Vascular Plant Taxonomy, Bot 443—Systematic Botany, and Bio 415—Biogeography. I have found over the years that keeping current in my research specialty directly impacts my classes. Plant Systematics is a rapidly advancing field with the biotechnology and phylogenetic analysis providing many insights on plant relationships. As a plant taxonomist specializing in the Asteraceae, I will have the opportunity to interact with top scientists of my field, learning about the most up-to-date studies and the broader applications of these studies to other groups of plants. I will be presenting a poster at the conference that applies my years of research in Asteraceae and floristics at a worldwide scale.

This trip is a wonderful opportunity for me to study the biogeography of one of the great centers of plant and animal diversity. Although I have taught biogeography for over 25 years, this will be my first opportunity to see the African biota in the field. Each of my past international trips has had a direct impact on how I teach biogeography through my personal observations, the photographs I build into my lectures, and the insights that come from seeing new areas from the perspective of a biogeographer. Much of my field work in South Africa will be guided by Professor Sue Walker, a colleague from the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Scientific Meeting: American Society for Cell Biology National Meeting - Elena Levine

• Scientific Meeting / Course Title: American Society for Cell Biology National Meeting
• Start Date: 12/14/02 Completion Date 12/18/02
• Means of travel (air, automobile, etc): automobile
• Expected cost of travel: $211.60 Expected cost of lodging: N/A
• Other expenses included in the request: registration $ 230
• Total Expenditures: $441.60

My experience at the ASCB meeting will be used to benefit Cal Poly students because it provided me with a short, intense update on a variety of current cell biology research. I will be able to include some of this current information in the following courses: Cell Biology (Bio 452), Classical and Molecular Genetics (Bio 351), Cellular Biology (Bio 501), and Biology of Cancer (Bio 300). Inclusion of information about current experiments, key results, and unanswered questions is an important component of my classes. Cell biology-related fields are moving extremely rapidly, and it is important for me to keep up-to-date and be able to pass that knowledge on to my students.

In addition, I participated in a biology education workshop during the meeting and presented a poster on science education (on the topic of emphasizing inquiry in cell biology labs). I received valuable ideas about different teaching approaches to try in my classes. I also had productive discussions about the ideas in my poster and met a potential collaborator for a manuscript on inquiry approaches in labs. Connections like this with colleagues at other institutions will indirectly benefit Cal Poly students by providing opportunities for future discussions about teaching; these conversations with colleagues are important for improving my own teaching and disseminating ideas about teaching in the department as a whole.

Scientific Meeting: Western Society of Naturalists, Annual Meeting - Royden Nakamura

• Start Date: 8 Nov 2002 Completion Date 11 Nov 2002
• Means of travel (air, automobile, etc): individual student arranged car pools or individual cars
• Expected cost of travel: N/A Expected cost of lodging: $1653.03
• Other expenses included in the request:
• Student registration (22 students) for meeting (includes meeting socials): $ 1115
• Total Expenditures: $2768.03

The Western Society of Naturalists is a premier regional scientific society focusing on marine biology. While the name is somewhat of a misnomer (Naturalists = Scientists), the organization has long been a magnet for marine biologists at academic institutions, agencies and private organizations focusing on a wide array of research. The society is known for its focus on student input in research projects as well as thematic symposia. Symposia and contributed papers are made by students as well as numerous world class marine biologists. The value of our students attending this meeting is that for the first time they are exposed to how scientific information is evaluated and disseminated outside of a class room or text book. Importantly, they learn what kinds of research different institutions and individuals are doing across the entire Pacific Coast, and Pacific Islands. They are exposed to is a bewildering array of aspects of marine science most never new existed. The students get to not only listen to symposia and contributed papers of their own choosing, but very importantly, the they get to directly interact with individual speakers and participants in a student-friendly atmosphere.

My role in the field trip was to be an organizer and facilitator for the students so they became part of the conference themselves. It is worth noting that every single student who handed in a questionnaire on the value of the meeting were glad to have been able to attend, (see meeting evaluation forms). It is noteworthy that though this was an ichthyology class, they took advantage of the broad range of topics to explore many other areas of interest. For many, the meetings served to provide a sense of direction for their education and career goals. Students diligently attended talks every day from the very beginning to the end (8-5) which surprised me in that I expected interest to wane after the first day but that was definitely not the case.

Scientific Meeting: FASEB, Experimental Biology ‘03 - Elizabeth K. Perryman

• Start Date: April 11, 2003 Completion Date: April 15, 2003
• Means of travel (air, automobile, etc): Train
• Expected cost of travel: $63, round trip to San Diego Expected cost of lodging: $560 (4 nights)
• Other expenses included in the request: Meeting early registration fee for members: $180
• Total Request: $ 803

As a member of the American Association of Anatomists, FASEB is the main professional organization to which I belong. I usually try to attend this meeting each year, sometimes taking undergraduate students with me, thereby introducing them to their first scientific meeting. I hope to have 3 or 4 students attending with me this year. Also, within the last six years, I have authored 3 poster presentations, two of which were co-authored with Cal Poly undergraduates. While I am not presenting a paper this spring, I did present at the last FASEB meeting in New Orleans. At that meeting, I made contact with two other faculty who presented their achievements in web tutorials. I hope to be able to communicate with these individuals at this upcoming meeting, particularly one faculty member in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Louisiana.

As a member of FASEB, I have been encouraged to apply for their Visiting Scientist Program. At this meeting I plan to meet with Jacquelyn Roberts, the associate director of this program. Recently, there has been a decrease in the number of scientists willing to teach/advise at minority institutions. FASEB wants to increase the number of these awards. Thus, the award would allow me to serve at a Native American college, Crown Point Institute of Technology, NM.

In my continued efforts to encourage undergraduates to attend scientific meetings, I plan to display materials in a case in Fisher Hall to advertise this Experimental Biology meeting, conveniently being held in San Diego.

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Date of Last Update: December 3, 2007