Curriculum, Undergraduate Research and Social Responsibility

Abstract: An undergraduate education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) is increasingly complex, and expensive Yet, students often do not understand the relevance of their coursework to their ideal career until it is too late. Faculty ,as mentors, have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to educate students in the relevance and applicability of the basic STEM curriculum, particularly basic chemistry and physics courses, which provide the foundation for understanding many modern topics. This paper presents assistant biology professor Jen Grant's efforts to craft a mentored research experience using MALDI -TOF MS to excite students about the importance of basic chemical and physical phenomena. This approach aligns academic curricula with real-world experiences, in an effort to demonstrate the kinds of problem solving enterprises that lie at the heart of world improvement and societal evolution.

Keywords: Social Responsibility - Higher Education Brief