Dr. Katelyn Cooper Honored with SOLS Teaching Excellence and Innovation Award

Dr. Katelyn Cooper was celebrated at the 2026 SOLS Undergraduate Scholarships and Awards Ceremony as the recipient of the Teaching Excellence and Innovation Award, recognizing her exceptional dedication to student learning and impactful contributions to teaching.

RISE Director Sara Brownell Quoted on Navigating AI Cheating Accusations

RISE Director Dr. Sara Brownell was featured in an article on how students can respond to AI cheating accusations. She highlighted the role of communication style in these conversations, noting that approaching discussions less defensively can lead to more productive outcomes.

RISE Researcher Ben Shares Project GenZ Insights at SOLS Brown Bag Seminar

RISE researcher Ben presented “Project GenZ: Are Best Practices in College Teaching Working for GenZ Students?” at the SOLS Brown Bag Seminar, engaging faculty and graduate students in discussion about how well current teaching practices meet the needs of today’s learners.

RISE Researcher Jynx Weaver wins ASU-wide poster competition!

Over 100 graduate student posters competed live at this event, hosted by ASU's Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR). 

Jynx Weaver, a 4th-year NSF Graduate Research Fellow of the RISE center, won 1st place in the Spring 2026 Completed Research Category for her poster titled, "Depression over time in graduate school research." When her poster title was announced with her award, the entire room of graduate students knowingly laughed in response, suggesting her research topic is as relevant as ever. Congratulations RISE trainee Jynx!

Therapy Dogs in Animal Physiology!

Our Bio360 Animal Physiology course decided to take some time to activate their parasympathetic nervous systems by petting some therapy dogs! Thanks to former student and RISE Ambassador Garv Kalra for setting this up!

Project GenZ Research Spotlighted in Inside Higher Ed on the Rise of AI Cheating

Project GenZ is featured in a new Inside Higher Ed article, "In-Person Classes Aren’t Safe From the AI Cheating Boom", examining how generative AI is transforming academic integrity. The piece highlights ASU biology education research showing how everyday participation and assessment practices can be vulnerable to AI misuse, prompting important conversations about how teaching must evolve to meet the realities of Gen Z learning.

ASU News Highlights Project Gen Z Research in Physiology Class

A new ASU News article, Project Gen Z asks whether college teaching is working for current students, explores how student driven research is examining whether current teaching practices align with the needs of today’s learners. The article highlights how ASU’s animal physiology course serves as a living laboratory for this work, generating insights to inform more responsive and effective science instruction.

New State Press Article Highlights ASU’s Project GenZ

RISE Center Director Sara E. Brownell and PhD student Ben Chan are featured in a new State Press article highlighting Project GenZ, a student led initiative in which undergraduate researchers study how today’s college students learn and engage in science courses to help instructors adapt their teaching practices.

Click here to learn more about Project GenZ.

New RISE Publication Questions the Effectiveness of Extended Time on Exams

RISE researchers Riley B. Pizza, Benjamin G. Chan, and Sara E. Brownell have published a new opinion piece in Inside Higher Ed examining one of the most common testing accommodations in higher education: extended time on exams.

The article challenges institutions to reconsider default accommodation practices and calls for more intentional, evidence-based approaches that better support the diverse needs of students with disabilities.

New RISE Publication Examines Bipolar Disorder Disclosure in Medical School Applications

RISE researchers have published a new study in Advances in Physiology Education examining whether a pre-med student with bipolar disorder should disclose their diagnosis on a medical school application to explain a period of low academic performance.

Congratulations to first author Baylee Edwards and RISE Ambassadors Hailey Bunch and Corinne Mitra for driving this project forward.

4th annual STEM Inclusion Summit brought together over 100 people

The 4th annual STEM Inclusion Summit highlighted community building, mental health, and finding new ways to fund research and programs focused on inclusion.  The RISE Center presented 10 posters at the event!

Get Involved

EVERYONE - RSVP and Sign Up for Sessions HERE

Present at the Poster Session: Submit your poster idea by Tuesday, October 14 at 11:59 p.m. PST using this LINK. If you have questions, please contact Sara Brownell ([email protected])

Published in CBE Life Sciences Education, this is the first paper to explore the experiences of Muslim students in peer interactions.  Congrats to first authors Baylee Edwards and Analy Granados.  Analy is a former RISE Ambassador who is now in dental school.

2230 undergraduate biology students were randomly assigned to watch one of two teaching demonstration videos and evaluate an instructor actor. The videos were identical except, in one version, the instructor revealed an LGB identity. Regardless of a state’s LGBTQ+ acceptance, undergraduates’ perceptions of instructors were unaffected by brief LGBTQ+ disclosure.  

Congrats to first author and former PhD student Carly Busch!

Over 2500 students learning about evolution were randomly assigned videos that had 1) no conflict-reducing practices, 2) conflict-reducing practices implemented by a non-religious instructor, or 3) conflict-reducing practices implemented by a Christian instructor.  Conflict-reducing practices led to decreased conflict, increased compatibility, and increased acceptance of human evolution compared with the video without conflict-reducing practices.

Wolf successfully defends his PhD thesis entitled "Understanding the Interrelationships of Indigenous Epistemologies, Research Methodologies, and Persistence in the Environmental Sciences"

Joseph Gazing Wolf successfully defended his PhD thesis, which explored the experiences of indigenous scholars in environmental sciences and addressed how current research methodologies both erase and bias findings relevant to indigenous individuals.  Sara and Melissa Nelson were co-chairs of the committee.

In this episode of The APS Publications Podcast, featuring Advances in Physiology Education coauthors  Baylee A. Edwards and Sara E. Brownell discuss their educational research titled "Students respond positively to an instructor collecting and sharing aggregated class demographic data from a survey in a high-enrollment physiology course." This study delves into undergraduate students' perceptions of a high-enrollment physiology course instructor gathering and sharing aggregated demographic data to foster inclusivity. 

A recent Nature article highlights a study from the Cooper Lab, which surveyed 1,419 biologists, including 486 identifying as LGBTQ+. This survey provides the first comprehensive analysis of the LGBTQ+ climate in the field of biology. The findings reveal that 40% of transgender and gender-nonconforming researchers, and 20% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer researchers, have experienced hostility, intimidation, or offensive behavior in their workplace.

In this episode of The APS Publications Podcast, join Tasneem F. Mohammed, Nolina Doud, Sara E. Brownell, and Katelyn M. Cooper as they discuss their recently published paper, "The Upside to Depression: Undergraduates Benefit from an Instructor Revealing Depression in a Large-Enrollment Physiology Course." In the study, an instructor of a large physiology course openly disclosed her depression to students on two separate occasions. The research explores how this revelation impacted students' perceptions of the instructor, the classroom environment, and their overall experience.

Congratulations to Dr. Sara Brownell for winning the esteemed Bruce Albert Award!

Congratulations to new Ph.D. Candidate Tasneem Mohammad!

Congratulations to Tasneem Mohammad for successfully defending her prospectus and officially becoming a Ph.D. Candidate! 

PhD Candidate Baylee Edwards wins GSG Outstanding Mentorship Award!

Baylee Edwards won the Graduate Student Government Outstanding Mentorship Award, which recognizes ASU's graduate and professional students who demonstrate excellence in mentorship.

SciChronicles, hosted by Risa Schnebly, features the inspiring stories of two scientists, Baylee Edwards and Jarrett Joubert, whose personal journeys shed light on the complexities of pursuing a career in science and the challenges of reconciling identity, society, and belief systems.

If you teach a small college class, then it’s easier for you to get to know who your students are, but this is much harder in a large class. Also, the impersonal nature of large science classes makes it difficult for students to feel like they relate to the instructor, which can negatively impact student learning and engagement, especially for members of marginalized groups.

RISE PhD Candidate Jynx Pigart Wins Second Place at the SOLS Poster Competition

A big congratulations to PhD Candidate Jynx Pigart for winning second place in the SOLS Poster Competition! Jynx presented a poster on her research regarding Depression Over Time in Science Graduate Programs, where she won a superlative for having a clear poster and $250 in travel funding as the second place prize in the poster contest.

This year's STEM Inclusion Summit will be November 6th, 2024 in the Arizona Ballroom at the Memorial Union. Check out the news article ASU wrote on it! Click here to register for the event. If you'd like to participate, here are links to sign up for info booths or poster session. 

PhD Student Tasneem Mohammed Receives Bill Wood Award!

RISE Center PhD Candidate Tasneem Mohammed received the Bill Wood award for her first-authored short talk on 'A Proof of Concept for Hopelessness Theory of Depression' at SABER. The Bill Wood award is given to two graduate students for their first-authored short talks every year at the SABER convention. 

Emma Goodwin Starts Position as Assistant Professor

Our postdoc Emma Goodwin is starting a new position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Georgia where she will be continuing to do education research related to undergraduate research. We will miss her but wish her the best in her new position! 

Through their LGBTQ+ Committee, The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) strives to create

A BIG congrats to Katey Cooper, who just received ASU Faculty Women's Association Outstanding Faculty Mentor Early Career Award! She has been an integral part of RISE, and we are so appreciative of all of her hard work in the lab, in the classroom, and with her students!

Student identities matter in the classroom. But while much of the literature in this area focuses on overt student identities, namely race and gender, a new study focuses on what it calls concealable stigmatized identities, or “CSIs.” These include LGBTQIA+ status, being a first-generation college student, struggling academically during college, being a community college transfer student, growing up in a low-income household, and having anxiety, depression, addiction or a disability.

PhD Student Baylee Edwards Receives GPSA Award!

RISE Center PhD student Baylee Edwards just received the Teaching Excellence Award from the Graduate and Professional Student Association for her exceptional teaching contributions to ASU's Embryo Project. According to the GPSA "The Teaching Excellence Award (TEA) is a prestigious honor bestowed upon graduate and professional students who exemplify exceptional teaching prowess across all campuses of Arizona State University.

Every person has characteristics, beliefs, values and affiliations that they identify with. These identities can define and distinguish people from one another while also shaping communities and behaviors, and influencing how people interact with the world around them. There are some identities that people may be reluctant to share — called concealable stigmatized identities, or CSIs.

In an event hosted by the RISE Center on Feb. 19 titled "Disability and Didactics: How we can advocate for students with disabilities in STEM," participants delved into strategies for enhancing support for students with disabilities in STEM fields. The session highlighted the need for updated perceptions and practices surrounding disability, accommodations and inclusion within educational frameworks and beyond. Vincent Truong, a junior studying biochemistry and psychology, was a main speaker at the event and began by defining impairment and disability.

RISE Center researchers and PhD students Jynx Pigart and Olivia Davis, along with a group of 15 Arizona State University students traveled to Denver, Colorado, last week for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest general science conference in the world. The Center for Biology and Society and Barrett, The Honors College co-sponsor ASU students to travel to the AAAS conference each year and compete in the meeting’s poster competition.

Sara Brownell, President’s Professor in the School of Life Sciences and Center for Biology and Society at Arizona State University, has been named an inaugural Charter Professor in recognition of her commitment and contributions that reflect the values of ASU’s charter: inclusion and success, research of public value and assuming responsibility for the well-being of the community. Charter Professor appointments are three-year terms providing discretionary funding to be used to complete the project outlined in the professor’s proposal. 

This past fall, Nancy Gonzales, executive vice president and university provost, created a new honor, the Charter Professor, to specifically recognize exceptional ASU tenure-track and career-track faculty members engaged in projects that advance the values of the ASU Charter. The appointment comes with significant funding for Charter Professors’ projects over a period of three years. RISE Center director Sara Brownell was named Charter Professor this year for her research on inclusive excellence in undergraduate STEM education.

Dr. Sara Brownell is a 2023 Charter Professor. Brownell is a President’s Professor in the School of Life Sciences and director of the Research for Inclusive STEM Education (RISE) Center. Her research focuses on inclusive excellence in undergraduate STEM education, attending to strategies to promote student success across a range of intersectional identities and lived experiences. 

Sara Brownell is ASM 2023 Top-Cited Author!

RISE Director Sara Brownell is an ASM Top-Cited Author in 2023! The paper "New Online Accommodations Are Not Enough: The Mismatch between Student Needs and Supports Given for Students with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic," co-authored by Logan Gin, Danielle Pais, Kristen Parrish, Sara Brownell, and Katelyn Cooper was recognized in Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education (JMBE)'s top-cited collections and shared with thousands both nationally and internationally.

Arizona State University Assistant Professor Katelyn Cooper discussed her research on the mental health of undergraduate and graduate students in science fields at an event hosted by the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning Wednesday.

As the COVID pandemic drove learning online at institutions of higher learning worldwide, some U.S. professors sought to reflect the new face of undergraduates, more diverse than ever. Demographic changes have led some to rethink the way they teach undergraduate science. Take Sara Brownell of Arizona State University, who received a Faculty Teaching Achievement Award this year. Brownell recalls the 2012 workshop that upended her science instruction. 

The COVID pandemic's impact on teaching and learning forced instructors to restructure their courses to be more accommodating toward and understanding of their students' situations -- both inside and outside of the classroom. Now that students have returned to classes, many of these instructors have continued to implement some of the lessons learned from teaching during the COVID pandemic into their courses. These new approaches to teaching can have positive effects on the inclusivity and accessibility of university courses. 

The subject of faculty revealing concealable stigmatized identities in science and engineering classes led to Brownell having some questions. Why don't more instructors reveal their concealed identity to students? Are those that do then stigmatized? And how beneficial is this practice?

Women working as STEM instructors are more likely than men in the same profession to disclose to their undergraduate students identities which could carry stigma, such as depression or growing up in a low-income household. In the new study, published July 19, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, Carly Busch of Arizona State University, USA, and colleagues suggest that these decisions to disclose may be in order to act as role models for students.

Research shows that when faculty members choose to disclose hidden, potentially stigmatized identities to their students—such as mental health issues or an LGBTQ+ identity—it can be powerful for undergraduate students looking for representation. But there are gendered differences in who chooses to disclose, according to a study published today in PLOS ONE.

As someone who studies ways to improve higher education, AAAS Fellow and RISE Center Director Sara Brownell, Ph.D., does a lot of research in classrooms. But one day, she decided to apply her own research to a lecture of hers at Arizona State University. She introduced herself to a room full of 300 students on the first day of an undergraduate biology class by providing a few personal details: “I like to hike, I like Mexican food, and I’m a proud member of the LGBTQ community.” 

Fear of negative evaluation, or FNE, is defined as a sense of dread associated with being negatively judged in a social situation. In a classroom setting, FNE might prevent a student from raising their hand, make them second-guess their knowledge of the subject matter, or cause them to break out in a cold sweat when asked to answer a question in front of the whole class. As part of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), ASU Online students engage in real research touching on a variety of issues, including the impact of FNE. 

Stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness and a reluctance to share mental health struggles affects many college students, and Sun Devils are no exception. Two doctoral students serving on ASU’s School of Life Sciences E-Board, one of them being RISE Center researcher Olivia Davis, are providing mental health support through peer mental health programs they have initiated.

In a new study published in Life Sciences Education, Arizona State University researchers and RISE Center members Katey Cooper, Tala Araghi and Carly Busch highlight how active learning has the potential to both alleviate and exacerbate depressive symptoms in undergraduates. 

The ASU Research for Inclusive STEM Education Center has launched a group of RISE ambassadors, bringing together undergraduate students determined to make STEM at ASU more inclusive by identifying inequities in education and implementing strategies. The RISE Center founded the group, composed of 13 undergraduate ambassadors, in January 2023. 

In the recent Student Voice survey, students cite teaching style as a major barrier to their academic success. Research points to active learning as a solution, but experts on pedagogy and identity offer some major caveats for professors looking to mix up their instructional approaches. RISE Center Director, Sara Brownell, is featured in this article, highlighting how important it is to consider different identities when using active learning in a classroom.

RISE Center director Sara Brownell won the Founder's Day Teaching Achievement Award, an event that celebrates the innovations and contributions of alumni, faculty members and supporters who reflect the vision, tenacity and hard work of its founders, leaders, faculty, students and alumni through the years. Founders’ Day is a celebration of this founding spirit.

Women throughout history have made significant contributions in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through their contributions, they have opened doors and paved the way for others to advance the work they’ve started and make contributions and discoveries of their own. During this Women's History Month, RISE Center Assistant Director Kristen Parrish and RISE Center associate faculty Ara Austin were both recently celebrated for their roles in advancing STEM education.

RISE Center Director Sara Brownell is this year’s recipient of the 2023 Faculty Teaching Achievement Award. This award is presented to an ASU faculty member who delivers an educational experience that creates impactful, transformative narratives regarding issues facing the world, and expands the minds of students to help discover innovative solutions.

Each spring, the ASU Alumni Association hosts Founders' Day, Arizona State University's signature event that honors the changemakers who exemplify the pioneering leaders who founded the university's predecessor, the Tempe Normal School. RISE Center Director Sara Brownell was chosen to be this year’s recipient of the 2023 Faculty Teaching Award. 

“We can look out into our classroom and think that everyone is having a perfectly fine day, but it’s absolutely not true.”

Katelyn Cooper said this, and she would know. Cooper leads the Cooper Biology Education Research Lab at Arizona State University. Her team recently conducted a survey of 2,175 undergraduates who were taking online science classes. The results, published in PLOS ONE in June, showed that a staggering 54% of the students reported experiencing symptoms of depression.

Kristen Parrish opened last week's Natural Sciences Inclusion Summit 2022 with words that set the stage for the daylong event. 

“It’s all about connections,” said the associate director of the Research for Inclusive STEM Education (RISE) Center at Arizona State University.

Join Dean Haskollar as she engages a discussion with RISE Center director Dr. Sara Brownell about how to create inclusive academic spaces for the LGBTQ+ populations. To view a full transcript of our podcast, click here.

Faced with financial hardships, multiple demands on their time and uncertain career prospects, some graduate students are losing faith in their chosen career path.

Mental health disorders are becoming increasingly common among undergraduate students, and premedical students may be especially vulnerable to those conditions because of the high levels of competition and stress they experience in their college programs. At least a quarter of premedical students experience mental health conditions that may be relevant to discuss when they are applying for medical school. However, there has been little research on whether revealing those mental health conditions on their medical school applications impacts students’ chances of being accepted.

Academic science can be an unwelcoming place for LGBTQ+ individuals, and fewer LGBTQ+ undergraduates persist in STEM than their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts. In addition to being underrepresented in STEM, an LGBTQ+ identity is a concealable stigmatized identity, meaning that individuals who hold this identity often have to “come out” in order for others to know that they are part of this community. Because revealing can have a negative impact on one’s career, LGBTQ+ instructors in STEM may hesitate to reveal their identity to students.

The national report Vision and Change was a blueprint for what should be taught to undergraduate biology students. It outlined a set of core concepts and core competencies that undergraduate biology students should possess by the time they graduate. One of the core competencies is understanding the relationship between science and society and bioethics courses are often used to help teach students this competency.

Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders among college students, and it is especially common among groups that are underrepresented or underserved in science, such as women, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities. Previous studies have found that the unwelcoming and competitive nature of science courses may worsen students’ depression.

Newswise — “The truth is rarely pure and never simple,” says Algernon Moncrieff, a lead in Oscar Wilde’s vivacious triumph The Importance of Being Earnest1. Wilde’s play about the power of self-actualization through truth was a literary foil to his own secret life of homosexuality, one that ultimately led to a scandalous downfall. Then constrained by Victorian social norms, we might assume our generation would embrace such a celebrity with open arms. But even 127 years later, LGBTQIA* community members still face being socially stigmatized and marginalized2.

Brianne Arviso could have easily stepped into an entry-level job in the construction industry after graduating from high school.

At that time, the Arviso Construction Company, started by her grandfather, Olsen Arviso Sr., had been in business for more than two decades. Her father, uncles and aunts worked for the company, headquartered near Gallup, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation.

“I grew up with the company being a big part of my world,” she says.

RISE Center scholar Emma Goodwin is just finishing up her first year as a postdoctoral scholar in Sara Brownell’s Biology Education Research Lab and landed a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to fund the rest of her postdoctoral training. 

Researchers including RISE Center core faculty member, Katelyn Cooper, at Arizona State University have earned 19 National Science Foundation early faculty career awards dating back to June 2021. The new awards total $12 million in funding for ASU researchers in grants that will be used over the next five years.

June is LGTBQ Pride Month — a time to celebrate the contributions that the LGTBQ community has made to society and throughout history. Katelyn Cooper talks about her own experience within the LGBTQ community and shares how she provides support to these students to ensure their success in the field of science.

Individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in undergraduate science and in science careers. While it is becoming increasingly clear that students with disabilities experience unique challenges in undergraduate science classrooms, little is known about the experiences of students with disabilities in undergraduate research. However, a recent national study has begun to shed light on the experiences of students with disabilities in research. 

In this AskPsychSessions feature, PsychSessions' Marianne chats with RISE Center Director Sara Brownell from Arizona State University. They talk about Sara's research on identity disclosure in a Biology class and more generally about creating more inclusive classrooms.

Ariel Anbar, director of the Center for Education Through Exploration at ASU, and Norman Bier, director of CMU’s Open Learning Initiative partner to develop more equitable general chemistry courseware with a grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The RISE Center recently had their work examining the impact of a STEM instructor revealing her LGBTQ+ identity featured in the 2022 STEM for All Video Showcase. The 2022 National Science Foundation (NSF) STEM for All Video Showcase is an annual online event. Each year, it hosts between 100-200 three-minute video presentations from federally funded projects that aim to improve STEM (Science, Math, Engineering, and Mathematics) and computer science education. 

RISE Center Director Sara Brownell and Ph.D. candidate Carly Busch were recently featured in ASU News for their published work examining the impact of a STEM instructor revealing LGBTQ+ identity to students. The study, published in Life Sciences Education, was co-authored by Carly Busch, Sara Brownell, and Katelyn Cooper. 

RISE Center Core Faculty Member and Assistant Director of Evaluation, Katey Cooper, has been featured in NBC PRIDE 30: The New Generation alongside notable figures such as Lil Nas X, Ariana Debose, and Jojo Siwa for her work in finding ways to make biology education more inclusive and equitable for undergraduate students.

RISE Center member, Nick Wiesenthal, was recognized recently in UCF News for his NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP) accomplishment. Nick attended the University of Central Florida for his undergraduate degree in the biological sciences.

2022 RISE Center Graduates

Eight RISE Center core research members recently graduated this semester. Three are graduate students graduating with either a master of science or Ph.D. and five are undergraduate students receiving their bachelor of science. All of these students have proven to be remarkable members of the center and have continued to push forward research that contributes to the message of the RISE Center. Congrats everyone! Check out our flyer below for more details on each graduate.

The acronym “JEDI” has become a popular term for branding academic committees and labeling STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) initiatives focused on social justice issues. Through its connections to Star Wars, the name JEDI can inadvertently associate our justice work with stories and stereotypes that are a galaxy far, far away from the values of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The question we must ask is whether the conversations started by these connections are the ones that we want to have.

In recognition of research accomplishments and plans for graduate work, three Arizona State University School of Life Sciences students have been named 2022 Graduate Research Fellows by the National Science Foundation along with existing winners Carly Busch and Logan Gin.

RISE Center's core faculty member and Assistant Director of Evaluation recently was featured in ASU Online's Newsroom article that touches on ASU faculty creating welcoming spaces for women in STEM.

Arizona State University’s Center for Education Through Exploration (ETX Center), directed by RISE Center affiliate Ariel Anbar, has announced the launch of “Infiniscope” 2.0, the next generation of a NASA-funded online platform, which is transforming learning across K–16 in the earth and space sciences.

RISE Center Core Faculty Member and Assistant Director of Evaluation, Katey Cooper, has won the 2022 American Physiological Society Teaching Section New Investigator Award. This award recognizes an outstanding early career investigator in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Candidates should be investigators who have made meritorious contributions to educational scholarship, the area represented by the Teaching of Physiology Section.

The National Center for Science Education wrote about the RISE Center's work exploring the relationship between evolution and student religious beliefs.

Sara Brownell was recently interviewed and featured in a story about large classroom teaching from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society, has elected RISE Director, Sara Brownell, as a 2021 Fellow for the section on Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering.

RISE Center Director Sara Brownell was interviewed about supporting LGBTQ+ students in higher education and creating LGBTQ+ inclusive learning spaces.

Each year, Arizona State University names faculty from across the university as President’s Professors. This prestigious designation has honored dozens of faculty members since 2006 and continues to do so for faculty who showcase enthusiasm and innovation in teaching, the ability to inspire original and creative work by students, mastery of subject matter, and scholarly contributions. RISE Center Affiliate Sharon Hall was named a President's Professor for 2022.

Participating in research as an undergraduate is known to be a highly influential experience that can increase student motivation and persistence in science. Research experience provides students an opportunity to learn if scientific research is a career they would like to pursue and ultimately has been linked to increased graduation rates and career success.

RISE Center welcomes visiting scholar Jamie Jensen for the month of February

The RISE Center welcomes visiting scholar Jamie Jensen for the month of February. Jamie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Brigham Young University. She specializes in the development and assessment of undergraduate biology curricula that employ evidenced-based pedagogical strategies to increase student scientific reasoning skills and deep conceptual understanding.

Logan contributed a piece about the importance of creating accessible STEM courses during the COVID-19 pandemic to the AAAS/NSF report Lessons Learned During COVID-19: Strategies for transforming the future of STEM education. Check it out!

Inspired by personal experiences, PhD grad Logan Gin advocates for inclusive science education, especially for students with disabilities.

Arizona State University School of Life Sciences PhD alumna Elizabeth Barnes and Professor Sara Brownell have been awarded the 2021 Evolution Education Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers for their work overcoming the stigma that scientific teachings preclude religious beliefs.

Four junior researchers with disabilities describe their career experiences to date, and how colleagues can act as allies.

Arizona State University Professor Ariel Anbar has been elected as an American Geophysical Union (AGU) fellow. He joins 59 other individuals in the 2021 Class of Fellows.

As online learning continues to see significant growth at higher education institutions around the country, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University is expanding opportunities that are traditionally offered in person to the digital environment with the launch of the Online Undergraduate Research Scholars (OURS) program. The new program will offer hands-on, experiential learning specifically for students enrolled through ASU Online.

When a 2018 study revealed that Ph.D. students suffer from depression at rates far higher than the general population, it sparked a landslide of concern about graduate student mental health, with some calling it a mental health crisis. The study highlighted a need to understand what aspects of graduate school affect depression, says Katelyn Cooper, an assistant professor at Arizona State University, Tempe, who studies student mental health.

RISE Center research on helping people reconcile religion and evolution was featured in a video produced by the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.

Recruiting and retaining diverse individuals in science is integral to promoting scientific progress, and in order to do this, science must first become more inclusive for all individuals. Currently, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academic environments are often considered to be unwelcoming and unfriendly spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) individuals.

RISE Center PhD student Carly Busch was invited to contribute a blog post for the American Society of Microbiology. She highlights some impactful yet easy ways we can create more LGBTQIA-inclusive biology learning environments.

How accessible is online education? Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students across the globe have had to adjust to a new normal as colleges and universities rapidly transitioned from in-person instruction to online and hybrid instruction. Though many applauded the newly found flexibility of online instruction, many undergraduate students found new challenges, specifically those students with disabilities.

This is the fourth and final essay in a series of blog posts to be released this quarter by the ASCB LGBTQ+ committee under the theme of “Building a Welcoming Community for LGBTQ+ Scientists.” As this is posted many of us will be starting to teach undergraduate classes – Our ultimate source of scientists. In this post, Dr. Sara Brownell shares some thoughts on the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in the classroom,  an area that she has actively researched.

This is the fourth and final essay in a series of blog posts to be released this quarter by the ASCB LGBTQ+ committee under the theme of “Building a Welcoming Community for LGBTQ+ Scientists.” As this is posted many of us will be starting to teach undergraduate classes – Our ultimate source of scientists. In this post, Dr. Sara Brownwell shares some thoughts on the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in the classroom,  an area that she has actively researched.

Active learning has been recommended as a more effective way to teach when compared to traditional lecturing, yet active learning can be implemented in many different ways. One common approach in active learning is to ask students to share out their thoughts either with other students or in front of the whole class.

RISE Center member Katey Cooper created a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) with the aim to engage students in real, publishable biology education research. In the span of a single semester, Katey Cooper's students went from an initial research question to a finished research manuscript that was submitted to a peer-reviewed education journal with all 14 students as co-authors exactly three weeks after the end of the term.

Although Christians are overrepresented in American society, they are underrepresented in biology careers. What is the reason for this under-representation? Prior research has indicated that Christians feel as though they don’t belong in biology, that some biology instructors make Christians feel as though they have to choose between their faith and biology, and many people incorrectly assume that one has to be an atheist to accept evolution.

Sharon Hall's commitment to teaching and inclusion has been recognized with the 2021 Zebulon Pearce Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Natural Sciences from The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University.

RISE Center undergraduate Julie Roberts was featured as a notable graduate by ASU.

Many STEM students are seeking the opportunity to conduct undergraduate research at some point in their academic career due to its many benefits. However, finding and securing a research position can be challenging, and may be more difficult for some students than others.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, nine female faculty from The College shared challenges they have faced, triumphs they have experienced and what gives them hope about the future of women in academia.

Imagine sitting in the audience at a large conference and you had a question. You think to yourself, “should I ask it?” but then overthinking, nervousness, and anxiety come to play, forcing a larger part of your consciousness to rely on someone else to ask that question for you. This is a decision that students in your classes are experiencing, and not all students experience this to the same extent.

Erika Nadile is a 2nd-year Biology and Society PhD student in Sara Brownell’s Biology Education Research Lab. She has been studying student participation in large-enrollment science courses and specifically, identifying ways in which participation can be inequitable.

Women in STEM on a male-dominated campus share the importance of representation in research and science-based fields.

The opportunity to attend a university online is an attractive option for many students because of the flexibility in scheduling, the lack of commuting, and the ability to work from wherever. This is a particularly enticing option for individuals working full-time in any capacity such as a 9-5 office job or for taking care of children or other family members. So, as universities begin to develop more of these programs, these online programs open access to college degrees for a larger slice of society.

The Black Lives Matter movement and protests in Summer 2020 after the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade, have prompted many educators and researchers to reflect upon racism in the spaces we occupy. As copies of “How to be an anti-racist” by Ibram X.

People of color are underrepresented in many STEM fields, and this underrepresentation is especially prevalent for Black individuals in evolutionary biology. Although there are many potential reasons why, a new study focuses on a factor that is often missing from these discussions: religious beliefs. It has been well established that Black individuals are more likely to be Christian compared to white individuals. Previous studies have also reported that Black individuals are less likely to accept evolution.

Thirteen ASU students, student groups, organizations, staff and faculty have been named 2020 Catalyst Awardees by the Arizona State University Committee for Campus Inclusion for their work fostering and promoting diversity and inclusion at ASU and beyond. 

It is well established that retaining PEERs in science is integral to addressing socioeconomic inequalities in the United States, ensuring that we include the best and brightest minds in the workforce, and minimizing the influence of bias in scientific research (Intemann, 2009). The term PEERs stands for “people excluded because of their ethnicity or race” and in the U.S. includes people who identify as Black or African American, Latinx or Hispanic, and people indigenous to the spaces comprising the United States and its territories (Asai, 2020).

The ASU RISE Center is hosting a series of events this term focused on racial justice to find ways in which the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) can be inclusive and anti-racist. On September 2nd, we had 19 students of color attend a listening session to discuss problems and challenges for students of color in SOLS.

Participating in research as an undergraduate is well known to benefit students as they develop into confident and skilled researchers. Students can hone their technical skills, critical thinking, and ability to collaborate and communicate their findings. Despite these benefits, some students still decide to leave their undergraduate research labs prior to completing their undergraduate degree.

Active learning has been proven to show an increase in student learning and a decrease in student failure compared to passive learning. As a result, many institutions have adopted various active learning pedagogies. Evidence also shows that active learning may decrease achievement gaps between students in traditionally underserved groups, such as women and underrepresented minority students. While active learning has been dubbed as inclusive teaching, it is still unclear if active learning is inclusive for all students.

As women in male-dominated fields, Brownell and Parrish said they have both experienced what it’s like to be a minority but feel their experiences are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to inclusion in higher education.

In these challenging times, students are experiencing additional stressors exacerbating their anxiety and depression. As instructors who want students to succeed, how can we support our students with anxiety and depression in order to foster belonging and maximize learning? In this week's Resilient Teaching webinar, we talked with SOLS assistant professor Katey Cooper, Ph.D, who shared her research examining what worsens and alleviates anxiety and depression in biology undergraduates.

A new ASU research center was created this year to help forge a more inclusive STEM education for students. The Research For Inclusive STEM Education Center aims to achieve that goal through the undergraduate experience within science, technology, engineering and math.

The center examines inequities within classrooms, research labs and learning environments to create interventions. RISE looks at identities beyond race and gender within STEM education.

We are excited to announce 16 events this term that all focus on racial justice in biology. These events are open to the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) community. Please join our suite of virtual workshops, seminars, and discussions to learn and become more self-aware of how we can become more inclusive.  

As ASU is defined by who we include and how they succeed, we need to make sure that this includes everyone in the classroom, including students with identities that are invisible. Even though society tends to assume that everyone is straight and cis-gender, current estimates of individuals who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) community range from 10-20% of the population.

Most scientists agree that the theory of evolution is a foundational concept in understanding biology, yet it remains rejected by nearly half of the college student population (Barnes & Brownell, 2018). With religious students making up a large percentage of the student body on college campuses across the United States, it is important to consider how the way we teach evolution may impact religious students as they integrate the scientific view of evolution with their religious beliefs.

Depression is a mental health concern for many students and is prevalent among undergraduates at a concerning rate.

Imagine students sitting in a college classroom where attendance is required. The instructor is describing how the body works to maintain homeostasis and then the instructor tells a joke. How would you respond? Well, studies indicate that your response may depend on who you are.

If you teach a college biology course, you are probably aware that most biology majors are interested in a medical career (Cooper et al. 2019). While many sub-disciplines in biology traditionally cater to the interests of students focused on medical careers, it is common for premed students to think that evolution has nothing to do with medicine. However, that is changing with the rise of a relatively new, but rapidly growing, field called evolutionary medicine (EvMed).

As classrooms are becoming more diverse, teaching practices should become more inclusive toward all groups. Cultural competence, the shaping of lectures to be more inclusive toward different cultures’ beliefs, has become a more common practice in many university classrooms, yet it is routinely ignored when teaching evolution to religious students (Barnes & Brownell, 2017).

ASU’s fully online B.S. in Biological Sciences: What it is and how it is inclusive? ASU is known for its mission to be inclusive; as ASU’s charter states “ASU is measured not by whom it excludes, but whom it includes, and how they succeed.” To further this mission, ASU launched the first fully online Bachelor of Science degree program in Biological Sciences in Fall 2017- one of the first online Biology degree programs in the nation.

What are bridge programs? The transition to college can be difficult for students from a variety of different backgrounds as they attempt to adjust to the rigor of college courses, adapt to a novel university setting, and become members of a university community. Summer bridge programs, sometimes called boot camps or early start programs, have been developed as a way to ease the academic and social transition to college. They are intensive experiences for incoming students that can provide early exposure to the opportunities, knowledge, and skills it takes to succeed in college.