Dr. Laura Ott’s UNC Biology undergraduate mentee, Parker Shoaf presented his disciplinary-based education research (DBER) project at the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE) recently, along with Katie French (NCSU undergraduate). Parker and Katie are mentored by Drs. Laura Ott and Erin McKenney (NCSU).
The presentation was a part of the NCSU STEM BUILD program (funded by the NSF) that Parker and Dr. Ott took part in over the past academic year. They collaborated with Katie and Dr. McKenney to design a tactile teaching tool with guided-inquiry activity on the gut microbiome and the physiological impacts of fermentation products. Dr. Ott and Parker implemented and assessed the activity in BIOL 252 this past spring.
Parker also has first authored a publication on this activity that is under review (Frontiers in Microbiology)!