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APS Presents Awards at
ABRCMS Conference PhUn Week: Promoting the Understanding of Physiology in K-12 Classrooms |
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The APS presented awards to minority
undergraduate researchers and was a major conference sponsor at the Annual
Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) at the Anaheim
Convention Center and Anaheim Marriott hotel in Anaheim, CA from November
8-11, 2006. ABRCMS is a national conference designed to facilitate increased
minority involvement in biomedical and behavioral science careers. This
three-day conference encompassed scientific presentations, professional
development workshops, poster and oral presentations, and numerous
networking opportunities with faculty and administrators from graduate
schools, government agencies, scientific societies and foundations.
According to numbers provided by ABRCMS, approximately 2,600 individuals,
including 1,650 undergraduate students, 280 graduate students, 30
postdoctoral scientists, and 750 faculty and administrators, attended this
meeting. The APS, represented by the K-12 Minority Outreach Fellow, Mesia Moore Steed, was pleased to present $250 awards to nine undergraduate students for the best oral and poster presentations in the physiological sciences during the conference. Students also receive a complimentary one-year print subscription to Physiology, an APS denim shirt and are added to the Minority Physiologists Listserv. Twenty-five judges, including APS members, Kothapa N. Chetty, Grambling State University; Cary W. Cooper, University of Texas Medical Branch; Scott Diamond, University of Kentucky College of Medicine; Latanya Hammonds-Odie, Spelman College; Irving G. Joshua, University of Louisville; Evangeline Motley-Johnson, Meharry Medical College; Nancy Pelaez, California State University, Fullerton; and Roy L. Sutliff, Emory University/Atlanta VA Medical Center, selected the winners: Oral Presentations Norris Hollie, Oakwood College, Huntsville, AL; Title: “Opioidergic Mod-ification in Heart Failure Development”; Kevin Oguayo, University of Texas at Arlington; Title: “Intermittent Hypoxia Conditioning of Canine Myocardium: Essential Role of Reactive Oxygen Species”; Jamille Robinson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg; Title: “In Situ Hybridization for Measuring Leptin Receptor mRNA Expression.” Poster Saed Abokor, Fayetteville State University, NC; Title: “Role of Insulin in Prostacyclin-mediated Cardioprotection against Low Flow/Reperfusion Injury in Isolated Rabbit Hearts”; Charles Bell, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; Title: “The Effects of Hormones, Sodium, Temperature, Monosaccharides, and Anion Exchange Inhibitors on Inositol Uptake in Mammary Explants”; Charles Drummer, University of Delaware, DE; Title: “Regulation of Lipid Metabolism in Drosophilia”; Natasha Flores, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Kaneohe, HI; Title: “Detection of Systemic Levels of Mouse Tissue Plasminogen Activator Following Intravenous Administration” Vovanti Jones, University of Maryland Baltimore County,; Title: “Measurements of Glutamate Transporter Dynamics”; Shammah O.N. Williams, Oakwood College, Huntsville, AL; Title: “S43126 (Compound I) Activate the PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway in PC12 Cells.” The APS congratulates the students on a job well done and wishes them the best in their academic pursuits. The APS Education office also staffed an exhibit booth, highlighting the following awards, programs and resources for minority groups underrepresented in science: APS/NIDDK Minority Travel Fellowship, providing travel support for 50-70 students annually. This fellowship provides funds to attend Experimental Biology and the fall APS conferences. Awardees also are paired with a mentor, an APS member, in their area of research. The intent of this program is to increase participation of pre- and postdoctoral minority students in the physiological sciences. Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship, supporting up to 12 fellowships each year. Fellowships support full-time undergraduate students to work in the laboratory of an APS member. The goal of this program is to excite and encourage students to pursue a career as a basic research scientist. Explorations in Biomedicine Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship, which immerses Native American undergraduates from across the nation in the world of cutting-edge physiology and biomedical research for 8-10 weeks during the summer. The Fellowship also provides the student an opportunity to participate in a major scientific meeting to experience the different ways science is communicated. Porter Physiology Fellowship Program, supporting minority students pursuing full-time studies toward a PhD in the physiological sciences. The Career brochure and updated Career web site, the Archive of Teaching Resources, the Timeline of Physiology, membership for students, and Experimental Biology 2007 also were provided for participants. The ABRCMS meeting is sponsored by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Minority Opportunities for Research Programs (MORE), which includes the MARC, MBRS: RISE, MBRS: SCORE, MBRS: IMSD, MBRS, and BRIDGES programs and is coordinated by the American Society for Microbiology. For more information see http://www.abrcms.org. For more information regarding the awards, programs and fellowships administered by the APS Education Office, please visit http://www.the-aps.org/education/index.htm or contact the office at education@the-aps.org or 301-634-7132.
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PhUn Week: Promoting the Understanding of Physiology in K-12 Classrooms |
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APS’ member-based annual
outreach program, “PhUn Week” (Physiology Understanding Week), generated
exciting collaborations between APS members and their local K-12 schools in
November 2006. The theme focused on the physiology of exercise and fitness.
In partnership with a teacher host, Robin Looft-Wilson, College of William
and Mary, and her lab group visited a first grade classroom and explained
how the heart and the circulation worked with the help of pictures and heart
models, and hands-on activities. Looft-Wilson measured heart rate and blood
pressure by using automatic digital cuffs, used stethoscopes with the young
children to hear their heart beating, and microscopes to view slides of
cardiac muscle and blood vessel cross-sections. Lisa Harrison-Bernard,
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, and Barbara Goodman,
University of South Dakota, led similar activities with fifth and seventh
grade students, respectively. For another visit to a tenth grade class,
Harrison-Bernard adapted downloadable, free instructional resources for
middle and high school students from the PhUn Week website,
http://www.PhUnWeek.org. Diane
Munzenmaier, Medical College of Wisconsin, and her colleagues visited an
eighth grade assembly of almost 300 students, and discussed the important
functions that proteins carry out in the body and their significance to
physiology. Additionally, she modified and presented the middle school
version of the physiologist career presentation slides from the PhUn Week
website, as did Peter Farrell, East Carolina University in three classroom
visits. A more advanced version downloaded from the website was used by
Barbara Engebretsen, Wayne State College, who coordinated a high school
group of students to visit the human performance labs on campus. Past APS
Teacher Fellows, Margaret Shain and Jessica Tiatia, and the 2006 K-12
Minority Outreach Fellow, Mesia Moore Steed, University of Louisville, also
enthusiastically participated in PhUn Week 2006 (see Table 1 for a complete
list).
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