Evolution of a Structure-Searchable Database into a Prototype for a High-Fidelity SmartPhone App for 62 Common Pesticides Used in Delaware

COVID-19 Impacts at a Small Mid-Atlantic Liberal-Arts College with Implications for STEM Education

During the COVID-19 pandemic, with very little preparation and within a brief span of 48 hours, the Wesley College STEM faculty and students triaged into a remote-only form of instruction. Wesley College STEM student COVID-19 impact surveys showed underlying gaps in economic equity, increased family responsibilities, struggles to stay motivated, social isolation, and higher levels of psychological stress. Yet, the crisis demonstrated new ways in which technology can be harnessed and allowed STEM students to reconsider how jobs and skills should be aligned. A STEM faculty COVID-19 check-in survey and interview responses revealed a quick realization that faculty could not rely solely on Wesley's Jenzebar learning management system (MyWesley). To engage their students and to create a supportive learning environment, STEM faculty sought new strategies and approaches for a diverse set of STEM learners. For synchronous e-teaching, the faculty used the Microsoft-Teams and the Zoom video conferencing platforms. Faculty only adopted MyWesley to execute dedicated asynchronous tasks (laboratory assignments, reports, exams). The STEM students were overwhelmingly positive about STEM faculty availability during the crisis. Still, both faculty and students indicated a much stronger preference for the face-to-face delivery of their course content via a traditional classroom setting.

Data-intensive Undergraduate Research Project Informs to Advance Healthcare Analytics

The overarching framework for incorporating informatics into the Wesley College (Wesley) undergraduate curriculum was to teach emerging information technologies that prepared undergraduates for complex high-demand work environments. Federal and State support helped implement Wesley's undergraduate Informatics Certificate and Minor programs. Both programs require project-based coursework in Applied Statistics, SAS Programming, and Geo-spatial Analysis (ArcGIS). In 2015, the State of Obesity listed the obesity ranges for all 50 US States to be between 21-36%. Yet, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mortality records show significantly lower obesity-related death-rates for states with very high obesity-rates. This study highlights the disparities in the reported obesity-related death-rates (specified by an ICD-10 E66 diagnosis code) and the obesity-rate percentages recorded for all 50 US States. Using CDC mortality-rate data, the available obesity-rate information, and ArcGIS, we created choropleth maps for all US States. Visual and statistical analysis shows considerable disparities in the obesity-related death-rate record-keeping amongst the 50 US States. For example, in 2015, Vermont with the sixth lowest obesity-rate had the highest reported obesity-related death-rate. In contrast, Alabama had the fifth highest adult obesity-rate in the nation, yet, it had a very low age-adjusted mortality-rate. Such disparities make comparative analysis difficult.

Undergraduate Research, Data-Science Courses, and Volunteer Projects, Inform and Accelerate Wesley College's Retention Among First- and Second- Year Students

Wesley College is Delaware's minority-serving, private, undergraduate, liberal-arts institution¹. The College continually advances innovative programming to boost college readiness and to stem the dropping numbers of its first-time (freshmen) applicants. In order to help unprepared students for the rigors of its programs and to enhance a truly integrated STEM curriculum^2-8, Wesley strengthened diverse academic equity by implanting data-science as cornerstone undergraduate research projects^9-11. To further scale-up student-engagement and to nationally disseminate our high-impact STEM-education successes^12,13, the College developed an Undergraduate Research Center for Analytics, Talent, and Success (UR-CATS)¹⁴. To streamline procurement documents and hazardous-waste handling workflows, the College implemented the use of an online platform¹⁵ that resulted in major annual savings. To engage middle and high school students, Wesley STEM undergraduates established a Science Club to demonstrate hands-on science lessons, so STEM concepts come to life. To help explain the learning mechanisms by which integrated STEM experiences support outcomes, this paper presents interventions with particular attention to curriculum design for incoming STEM freshmen who place into pre-Calculus or a lower math course. To show that engagement with STEM college students as role models have a positive impact on high-school student interest, we provide examples where Science Club members pose challenges and show different perspectives on everyday items. In summary, Wesley project outcomes have allowed for coordinated interventions^3-9,12-14 in student well-being and student success.

FREE INVENTORY PLATFORM MANAGES CHEMICAL RISKS, ADDRESSES CHEMICAL ACCOUNTABILITY, AND MEASURES COST-EFFECTIVENESS

To develop best practices for laboratory safety and for chemical product and supplies management accountability, the freely-available online platform, Quartzy, was integrated within an interdisciplinary science department at a small Mid-Atlantic liberal-arts college. This was done to ensure the accuracy of purchase records, the appropriate use of storage and handling protocols, and for a continually updated chemical inventory system. Quartzy also facilitated the digital tracking and dispersal of the College's hazardous waste inventory. Since the implementation of the Quartzy platform, the science department achieved significant cost-savings during the procurement of laboratory supplies and equipment, and it developed a sense of ownership towards the common goal of lowering the College's environmental impact as it relates to its managing of laboratory-generated hazardous wastes.

Integrative Approach for a Transformative Freshman-Level STEM Curriculum

In 2014 Wesley College adopted a unified undergraduate program of evidence-based high-impact teaching practices. Through foundation and federal and state grant support, the college completely revised its academic core curriculum and strengthened its academic support structures by including a comprehensive early alert system for at-risk students. In this core, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty developed fresh manifestations of integrated concept-based introductory courses and revised upper-division STEM courses around student-centered learning. STEM majors can participate in specifically designed paid undergraduate research experiences in directed research elective courses. Such a college-wide multi-tiered approach results in institutional cultural change.

Integrative Biological Chemistry Program Includes The Use Of Informatics Tools, GIS And SAS Software Applications

Wesley College is a private, primarily undergraduate minority-serving institution located in the historic district of Dover, Delaware (DE). The College recently revised its baccalaureate biological chemistry program requirements to include a one-semester Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences course and project-based experiential learning courses using instrumentation, data-collection, data-storage, statistical-modeling analysis, visualization, and computational techniques. In this revised curriculum, students begin with a traditional set of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics major core-requirements, a geographic information systems (GIS) course, a choice of an instrumental analysis course or a statistical analysis systems (SAS) programming course, and then, students can add major-electives that further add depth and value to their future post-graduate specialty areas. Open-sourced georeferenced census, health and health disparity data were coupled with GIS and SAS tools, in a public health surveillance system project, based on US county zip-codes, to develop use-cases for chronic adult obesity where income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, education, and age were categorical variables. Across the 48 contiguous states, obesity rates are found to be directly proportional to high poverty and inversely proportional to median income and educational achievement. For the State of Delaware, age and educational attainment were found to be limiting obesity risk-factors in its adult population. Furthermore, the 2004-2010 obesity trends showed that for two of the less densely populated Delaware counties; Sussex and Kent, the rates of adult obesity were found to be progressing at much higher proportions when compared to the national average.