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Dr. Wendy Beane, professor of biological sciences and an Emerging Scholar Award recipient, is no stranger to scientific outreach, but her most recent experience with the University’s Biological Sciences Research Experiences for Teachers Sites (BIORETS) program reinforced the importance of bridging science and community.

“Growing up, I’d never been approached with fun science, and it wasn’t until I got to college that I had science teachers who were passionate and engaged,” says Beane, who majored in English in college. “It was because of this outreach at the college level that I came to realize that science is really cool. And I think it’s these kinds of experiences that give you the chance to do things you wouldn’t think you’d like.”

Beane’s lab is already well-known for its outreach efforts, which have included bringing neuroregeneration practicums to local high schools, leading an effort to establish an internationally recognized quantum biology community in the U.S. and establishing QBite, a national trainee exchange program based at Western that exposes graduate students to various quantum biology disciplines.

Beane carried that same sense of connection to “BIORETS: biology of plants, animals, microorganisms and their environments,” a National Science Foundation-funded program at Western that brought together eight biological sciences faculty and nine local science teachers for seven weeks of authentic research and professional development.

The ultimate goal of the program is to provide “teachers research and education opportunities that can enhance their classroom teaching and entice students to join biological fields,” according to Dr. Yan Lu, associate professor of biological sciences and director of the program.

“For our typical high school outreach, instead of just bringing a set program, we work with the instructor of the classes to tailor the program to the needs of individual classes and what the instructor’s objectives are,” says Beane. “I thought it would be an awesome opportunity to actually interact more with the instructors themselves through this program, and it was just an entirely delightful experience from start to finish.”

Teachers were paired with one of eight faculty mentors, each focusing on a different aspect of the overarching theme of how biological entities interact with one another and their environment. One group explored how microorganisms receive and respond to environmental cues while another considered how animals interact with their environment by investigating fish morphology and migration. Across a variety of biological sciences areas, each lab gave teachers a distinct experience.

In Beane’s lab, Vicksburg High School science teacher Liz Ratashak joined in building upon Beane’s research on regeneration utilizing planarians, which have a huge stem cell population and are very easy to control, in order to discover what makes them able to regenerate. 

“I had been in a research experience for teachers program before, and I really learned and grew a lot as a professional during that program focused on science education,” says Ratashak. “With (the BIORETS) program being about science research itself, I was interested in learning new things.”

Ratashak was immersed in real-world, active research for seven weeks, examining the effects of a few specific genes on planarian behavior. Beane described the data collection as “the most productive seven weeks of the lab’s entire life,” and she hopes to publish a paper on the findings alongside Ratashak after some additional data collection.

Beyond providing an invaluable research experience, there is an entrenched commitment as part of the BIORETS program to transfer the experience into the curriculum for their classrooms, with the ultimate goal of engaging young students in STEM subjects.

“This experience was not just bringing someone in, mentoring and then letting them go. It was actually a chance for both of us to learn equally,” says Beane. “Being able to learn about the constraints and curriculum science teachers have to work with makes it easier to provide an experience that is sustainable and can be translated to the classroom.”

Together, Beane and Ratashak worked together to develop a stream of curriculum about “Pluripotency in Planaria” that will be implemented in a ninth-grade biology class later this school year. Beane expects to join Ratashak in her classroom for the weeklong lesson plan to “be able to see how it works practically.”

“I think (BIORETS) has fostered some better partnerships between our area high schools and the University. It let (area schools) know that we are interested in helping with their enrichment and their classrooms, and that we are here as a resource,” says Beane. “And I feel better able to provide meaningful outreach and really build relationships in the community.”

The BIORETS program, which is funded through 2025 to Drs. Yan Lu, director, and Silvia Rossbach, co-director, was complemented with faculty research seminars, professional development workshops, demonstrations of hands-on laboratory teaching modules, lunch-time discussions on research and curricular development, written curricular materials, poster presentations on research and curricular development, and fall semester classroom visits.