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Journal Information

PLOS Biology publishes significant advances across the biological sciences. And we push boundaries.  Designed to advance science and the communities who depend upon it, we’re transforming research communication to fit the research process. Evolving article types and policies empower authors to share the full story behind their science with a global audience of researchers, educators, policy makers, patient advocacy groups, and the public. 

Transform Your Research

Authors who publish with PLOS Biology benefit from policies and research outputs shaped by the process of scientific enquiry, as well as outstanding quality and trusted expertise. PLOS Biology offers…

• More time to do research. Easily submit a PDF of your manuscript (without formatting!) and get a preliminary decision from one of our staff editors in about one week. You’ll only need to provide additional information if we decide to send your work for peer review.
• Assessment grounded in the roots of science. Our assessment emphasizes the value of research questions and the approach undertaken, surfacing the importance of the entire research process -- not just the final results. 
• Timely feedback on your work. Our Staff Editors provide you with an initial decision within 6 days on average, and peer-review takes 42 days on average.
• Portable peer review.  We consider manuscripts on the basis of reviews received at other journals, working with Academic Editors to arbitrate these reports directly to avoid or minimize further peer-review. 
• More ways to share each stage of your research and get credit for each piece. Preprints as well as a diverse range of publishing options such as preregistration and linked article types document the full research cycle in a way that makes sense for your science. 
• Consideration of complementary research. Although originality is an important criterion for studies published in PLOS Biology , the journal depressurizes the publication process by accepting submissions that confirm, replicate, extend, or are complementary to a recently published significant advance. Read our editorial, The Importance of Being Second for more information on this policy.
• Combined expertise of dedicated Staff Editors and leading scientists in the field. Our Staff Editors work with you to guide your work through submission and peer review. They also partner with our Academic Editors, who are experts in the field, to provide expert guidance. This unique editorial model ensures expertise, fairness and efficiency for each manuscript.
• Tools to ensure transparency and long term replicability of your work. Open data, code, and protocols help ensure your work remains replicable, while contextualized peer review and the option to publish your peer review history provide additional expert insight into the evaluation of your work and the rationale behind publication decisions.  
• Broad visibility and impact. Your research is open to everyone to see, cite, share and build upon your science. Our superior press program helps boost their impact with additional media coverage.

PLOS Biology is the flagship PLOS journal in the life sciences and features works of exceptional significance, originality, and relevance in all areas of biological science and at every scale; from molecules to ecosystems, including works at the interface of other disciplines. We also welcome data-driven meta-research articles that evaluate and aim to improve the standards of research in the life sciences and beyond. We evaluate research based on the important questions it answers as well as its potential to impact an international scientific community as well as educators, policy makers, patient advocacy groups, and society more broadly.

Criteria for Publication

PLOS Biology is highly selective and publishes significant advances resulting from original lines of inquiry that have a broad impact in their field and across other disciplines. To be considered for publication, work must also demonstrate a high standard of scientific rigor in its methodology, reporting, and conclusions.

What We Publish: Types of Research Articles

PLOS Biology offers diverse publication outputs for every type and stage of research so that authors can communicate their work earlier, more broadly, and with more transparency of the entire research process. 

Preregistered Research Articles

Preregistration  is an optional first step toward publishing a research article in PLOS Biology that enables authors to increase the transparency, thoroughness, and credibility of scientific results. Authors submit their study design for peer review prior to conducting their investigation. If the proposed study demonstrates originality and potential to provide significant advance to the field, staff editors will issue a provisional accept that enables authors to complete their experiments and submit a completed manuscript, which will be evaluated based on adherence to the study design.

Research Articles

Regular research articles present original research that significantly advances current understanding in any field across the full spectrum of the life sciences.

Methods & Resources Articles

Methods articles describe significant methodological or technical innovations, or substantial improvements over previously established methods. Resources consist of data sets or other significant scientific resources that are of general interest and demonstrate applicability. Learn more . 

Meta-Research Articles

Meta- Research articles are data-driven articles that examine significant questions of how biological research is designed, carried out, communicated and evaluated, or which explores the systems that evaluate and reward individual scientists or institutions. Learn more .

Short Reports

Brief articles presenting novel, intriguing results from a limited set of experiments that can be summarized in up to 4 figures. Short Reports  are designed to enable authors to communicate a concise set of experiments that may reconcile conflicting observations, or apply known techniques to an original question. Learn more .   

Discovery Reports

Brief, early reports that present novel and groundbreaking early findings, confirmed by independent approaches, that have the potential to lead to a significant advance in the field. Discovery Reports  give researchers the flexibility to publish and earn credit for their initial findings as a first step, thereby helping the field move forward earlier. Detailed mechanistic insights are not required at this stage, but could follow in one or more linked Update Articles (see below).

Update Articles

Update Articles build upon research previously published in PLOS Biology  so that authors can share advances as their work progresses. All primary research, including Research Articles, Short Reports, Discovery Reports, Methods & Resources Articles, Meta-Research Articles and Pre-Registered Research Articles, are eligible for updates. Update Articles may contribute a detailed, robust mechanism or new understanding of a previously described phenomenon or elucidate its physiological relevance. They may also report negative follow up results. Update Articles may be published by the same researchers or by other labs and easily link back to the original article to create a comprehensive research story, and ensure credit is appropriately attributed at each stage of discovery. 

PLOS Biology encourages researchers to share early versions of their manuscripts via preprint servers, either before or after submission. Posting to a preprint server will not preclude consideration of your manuscript. Through our partnership with bioRxiv , you can submit directly to PLOS Biology through this preprint server, or opt-in to have us post your submission to bioRxiv on your behalf. 

Editorial Collaboration

We’re committed to helping authors develop and share their best work. PLOS Biology Staff Editors partner with our Academic Editors, who are leading experts in all fields of biology, for each manuscript that undergoes peer review. This unique editorial model ensures a constructive, efficient, and objective evaluation for all authors.

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Submission guidelines, submission system, publication fees.

PLOS employs several business models to support equitable Open Access. A full list of our publication fees, funding initiatives and fee assistance information is available here .

Open Access

PLOS applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited. Learn more .

Journal Impact and Article Metrics

PLOS does not consider Impact Factor to be a reliable or useful metric to assess the performance of individual articles. PLOS supports DORA – the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – and does not promote our journal Impact Factors. We will provide the metric to individuals when specifically requested.

PLOS promotes the use of Article-Level Metrics (ALMs), which enable scientists and the general public to engage more dynamically with published research. ALMs reflect the changing impact of research over time, incorporate academic as well as social impacts of research, and assess the impact of research before the accrual of academic citations. Read more about ALMs .

Indexing and Archiving

All PLOS journals are widely indexed by major services such as Crossref, Dimensions, DOAJ, Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, and Web of Science.

PLOS Biology is also indexed by the following services to ensure research content is accessible and discoverable as widely as possible: AGRICOLA, Biological Abstracts, BIOSYS Previews, CABI CAB Abstracts, CABI Global Health, CAPES, CAS, CNKI, Embase, Journal Guide, MEDLINE, and Zoological Record.

• See publishing details for all PLOS journal titles , including ISSN and indexing and archiving information.

PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.

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Explore the latest research making an impact in your field

Our biological science research journals cover a broad range of topics, from animal biology and plant science to genetic engineering, immunology, and microbiology. Read some of the latest and most talked about research from across our portfolio.

Most mentioned

Read the most mentioned* articles from each of our journals in 2023 so far.

The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science , PLOS Biology

A novel nematode species from the Siberian permafrost shares adaptive mechanisms for cryptobiotic survival with C. elegans dauer larva , PLOS Genetics

Time-travelling pathogens and their risk to ecological communities , PLOS Computational Biology

The viral origin of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome , PLOS Pathogens

Latest biological science research

Explore the latest articles from across our biological science journals, or browse all articles.

From PLOS Biology , Eggs of the mosquito Aedes aegypti survive desiccation by rewiring their polyamine and lipid metabolism

From PLOS Computational Biology , Rapid automated 3-D pose estimation of larval zebrafish using a physical model-trained neural network

From PLOS Pathogens , Divergence of TORC1-mediated stress response leads to novel acquired stress resistance in a pathogenic yeast

From PLOS Genetics , Wolbachia infection at least partially rescues the fertility and ovary defects of several new Drosophila melanogaster bag of marbles protein-coding mutants

Read the latest multidisciplinary research from across our journals:

*based on data from Altmetric, accessed October 2023.

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Author: Julia Squarr, Journal Development Manager, PLOS Pathogens and PLOS Genetics PLOS Genetics finds itself at a juncture marked by both reflection…

In this ‘behind the paper’ post, Stephanie Williams discusses how the new equipment, techniques and methods developed in her lab helped them…

In this ‘behind the paper’ post, Joe Ziminski discusses his collaborative experience while studying how our brain changes when we learn. The…

Introduction

Name of Journal: International Research Journal of Biological Sciences

Subject Category: Biology

Broad Subject Category: Science

ISSN: 2278-3202 (online)

Nature of Publication: Online

Year of commencement: 2012

Frequency: 4 issue per year (quarterly), issue release on 10 th of February, May, August, November

Publication charges (any type): Nil

Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Bhavesh Patel Principal, V.P.& R.P.T.P. Science College, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Anand-388 120, Gujarat, India Email: [email protected]

Publisher: International Science Community Association, Krishnaashraya, 427, Palhar Nagar, RAPTC, VIP-Road, Indore-452005, MP, INDIA

Dear Sir /Madam

International Science Community Association are publishing an international peer reviewed journal International Research Journal of Biological Sciences. It is the vision of International Science Community Association to publish research papers, research articles, review papers, mini review, case study and short commutations in all areas of human study without financial restriction.

Coverage Area: Researches in the field of biologycal science such as Agriculture,Animal Sciences, Botany, Bio Chemistry, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Cell biology, Cryobiology, Ecology, Ethno-biology, Food technology, Forestry Sciences, Fishery Sciences, Forensic Sciences, Genetic Engineering, Home Sciences, Life Sciences, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Medical Sciences,Nanotechnology, Pathology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toxicology, Veterinary Sciences, Zoology etc..

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Biological Research

Special series on Microbial Interactions

The nine articles of this special issue of  Biological Research  address biochemical and genetic determinants of microbial response and tolerance to stressors in different biological models and environmental contexts. Individual articles provide a broad exploration of our current knowledge of response to stressors, with a special emphasis on metal metabolism and toxic compounds.

Special series on Antarctic Research

This special issue on Antarctic research in Biological Research comprises of recent studies, related to the discovery of several new enzymes and biotechnological applications that allow to expand the knowledge of Antarctic organisms and their potential applications.

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Cx43 hemichannels and panx1 channels contribute to ethanol-induced astrocyte dysfunction and damage

Authors: Gonzalo I. Gómez, Tanhia F. Alvear, Daniela A. Roa, Arantza Farias-Pasten, Sergio A. Vergara, Luis A. Mellado, Claudio J. Martinez-Araya, Juan Prieto-Villalobos, Claudia García-Rodríguez, Natalia Sánchez, Juan C. Sáez, Fernando C. Ortíz and Juan A. Orellana

Galectins in epithelial-mesenchymal transition: roles and mechanisms contributing to tissue repair, fibrosis and cancer metastasis

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The long-chain flavodoxin FldX1 improves the biodegradation of 4-hydroxyphenylacetate and 3-hydroxyphenylacetate and counteracts the oxidative stress associated to aromatic catabolism in Paraburkholderia xenovorans

Authors: Laura Rodríguez-Castro, Roberto E. Durán, Valentina Méndez, Flavia Dorochesi, Daniela Zühlke, Katharina Riedel and Michael Seeger

MicroRNA-148b secreted by bovine oviductal extracellular vesicles enhance embryo quality through BPM/TGF-beta pathway

Authors: Karina Cañón-Beltrán, Yulia N Cajas, Vasileios Almpanis, Sandra Guisado Egido, Alfonso Gutierrez-Adan, Encina M González and Dimitrios Rizos

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Awareness and current knowledge of breast cancer

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Stress and defense responses in plant secondary metabolites production

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Fate of nitrogen in agriculture and environment: agronomic, eco-physiological and molecular approaches to improve nitrogen use efficiency

Authors: Muhammad Anas, Fen Liao, Krishan K. Verma, Muhammad Aqeel Sarwar, Aamir Mahmood, Zhong-Liang Chen, Qiang Li, Xu-Peng Zeng, Yang Liu and Yang-Rui Li

Coping with drought: stress and adaptive mechanisms, and management through cultural and molecular alternatives in cotton as vital constituents for plant stress resilience and fitness

Authors: Aziz Khan, Xudong Pan, Ullah Najeeb, Daniel Kean Yuen Tan, Shah Fahad, Rizwan Zahoor and Honghai Luo

Biotechnological applications of archaeal enzymes from extreme environments

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Editor’s profile

Manuel J Santos, Editor-in-Chief

Dr Santos is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Biological Sciences and Medicine at the Pontificia Catholic University of Chile.

Dr Santos received his MD from the University of Chile and his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the Pontificia Catholic University of Chile. He majored in Medical Genetics at The John Hopkins University (USA) and The René Descartes University of Paris (France), and held a post doctorate position in Cell Biology and Genetics at the Rockefeller University (USA).

His research has focused on the biogenesis of cellular organelles, particularly peroxisomes. A pioneer in this field, his research lead him to discover a new type of human genetic disease, the peroxisomal biogenesis disorders, which include Zellweger Syndrome. More recently his research has centered on studying the role of peroxisomes in Alzheimer’s disease, and he also works in the field of bioethics.

Over the span of his career, Dr Santos has published more than 70 peer reviewed papers and been the President of the Society of Biology of Chile, the Genetics Society of Chile and the Bioethical Society of Chile.

About the Society

The Chilean Biology Society (Sociedad de Biología de Chile), previously the Biological Society of Santiago, was founded in late 1928 as a subsidiary of The Societé de Biologie of Paris, France. For several years the summaries of its communications were published in Comps Rendú of the Societé de Biologie du Paris. The Society is currently a member of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS).

The Chilean Biology Society promotes theoretical and experimental studies and research leading to advancement in and dissemination of the biological sciences for the benefit of the community. To accomplish this, the Society organizes periodic scientific meetings in which scientists communicate, comment and discuss research carried out in Chilean or foreign research laboratories. In addition, relations and cooperation with similar domestic and foreign institutions are stimulated, and communication by all appropriate means of biological research carried out in Chile. 

Members of the Society will receive a discount on Biological Research 's article-processing charge when they provide a discount code (which members can obtain by emailing the Society) during the submission process.  The discounted article-processing charge for Society members is £1150 in 2023.

The Society also publishes Revista Chilena de Historia Natural ( Chilean Journal of Natural History, founded in 1897).

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2022 Citation Impact 6.7 - 2-year Impact Factor 7.2 - 5-year Impact Factor 1.241 - SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) 1.294 - SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

2023 Speed 25 days submission to first editorial decision for all manuscripts (Median) 155 days submission to accept (Median)

2023 Usage  489,080 downloads 731 Altmetric mentions 

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Biology Education Research: Lessons and Future Directions

• Susan R. Singer
• Natalie R. Nielsen
• Heidi A. Schweingruber

*Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057

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Address correspondence to: Natalie R. Nielsen ( E-mail Address: [email protected] ).

National Research Council, Washington, DC 20001

Biologists have long been concerned about the quality of undergraduate biology education. Indeed, some biology education journals, such as the American Biology Teacher , have been in existence since the 1930s. Early contributors to these journals addressed broad questions about science learning, such as whether collaborative or individual learning was more effective and the value of conceptualization over memorization. Over time, however, biology faculty members have begun to study increasingly sophisticated questions about teaching and learning in the discipline. These scholars, often called biology education researchers, are part of a growing field of inquiry called discipline-based education research (DBER).

DBER investigates both fundamental and applied aspects of teaching and learning in a given discipline; our emphasis here is on several science disciplines and engineering. The distinguishing feature of DBER is deep disciplinary knowledge of what constitutes expertise and expert-like understanding in a discipline. This knowledge has the potential to guide research focused on the most important concepts in a discipline and offers a framework for interpreting findings about students’ learning and understanding in that discipline. While DBER investigates teaching and learning in a given discipline, it is informed by and complementary to general research on human learning and cognition and can build on findings from K–12 science education research.

In this essay, we draw on the NRC report to highlight some of the insights that DBER in general and BER in particular have provided into effective instructional practices and undergraduate learning, and to point to some directions for the future. The views in this essay are ours as editors of the report and do not represent the official views of the Committee on the Status, Contributions, and Future Directions of Discipline-Based Education Research; the NRC; or the National Science Foundation (NSF).

CHALLENGES TO UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

DBER and related research on teaching and learning have illuminated several challenges undergraduate students face in learning science and engineering. Indeed, “these challenges can pose serious barriers to learning and acquiring expertise in a discipline, and they have significant implications for instruction, especially if instructors are not aware of them” ( NRC, 2012 , p. 191).

One major challenge is accurate conceptual understanding. In every discipline, students have incorrect ideas and beliefs about concepts fundamental to the discipline. They particularly struggle with the unseen and with very small or very large spatial and temporal scales, such as those involved in understanding the interaction of subatomic particles or natural selection. As an example, many students believe the mass of a tree trunk comes from the soil, rather than the CO 2 in the air, because they have difficulty believing that air has mass ( Koba and Tweed, 2009 ).

Students’ incorrect knowledge poses a challenge to learning, because it comes in many forms, ranging from a single idea to a flawed mental model that is based on incorrect understandings of several interrelated concepts ( Chi, 2008 ). It is less complicated to identify and address incorrect understandings of single ideas (e.g., all blood vessels have valves) than flawed mental models (e.g., the human circulatory system is a single loop rather than a double loop). Still, given that our goal is to help students progress toward more expert-like understandings, it is important for instructors to be aware of the misunderstandings that stand in the way of that goal and to have strategies for addressing those misunderstandings.

Understanding and using representations such as equations, graphs, models, simulations, and diagrams pose another major challenge for undergraduate students. Developing expertise in a discipline includes becoming familiar with representations unique to that discipline, such as evolutionary trees in biology, depictions of molecular structures in chemistry, and topographic maps in the geosciences. Experts in a discipline (here, professors) have long since mastered these representations and might no longer remember a time when these equations and images were new and confusing. However, in every discipline of science and engineering, students have difficulty understanding, interpreting, and creating representations that are unique and central to a given domain.

SOME INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING LEARNING AND CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING

DBER has shown that specific instructional strategies can improve students’ learning and understanding. For example, the use of “bridging analogies” can help students bring incorrect beliefs more in line with accepted scientific explanations in physics ( Brown and Clement, 1989 ). With bridging analogies, instructors provide a series of links between a student's correct understanding and the situation about which he or she harbors an erroneous understanding. Another approach, interactive lecture demonstrations—in which students predict the result of a demonstration, discuss their predictions with their peers, watch the demonstration, and compare their predictions with the actual result—have been shown to improve students’ conceptual understanding in chemistry and physics ( Sokoloff and Thornton, 1997 ).

Explicitly point out the relationship among different displays of the same information to help students see the similarities.

Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different representations for different purposes.

Provide extensive opportunities for students to practice creating and interpreting diagrams of the desired type.

More generally, DBER and related research provide compelling evidence that student-centered instructional strategies can positively influence students’ learning, achievement and knowledge retention, as compared with traditional instructional methods, such as lecture. These strategies include asking questions during lecture and having students work in groups to solve problems, make predictions, and explain their thinking to one another. As noted in the NRC report on DBER, the point is not to abandon lecture entirely, but to use a range of carefully chosen instructional approaches that can include lecture. When lectures are used, they should be designed with attention to how best they can support students’ learning.

Despite compelling evidence for the effectiveness of student-centered approaches such as interactive lectures and collaborative activities, these practices still are not widespread among science and engineering faculty. In fact, science and engineering faculty are more likely than faculty in other disciplines to rely on lecture ( Jaschik, 2012 ). Considering the many factors that influence decisions about instructional practices, it is not hard to understand why many faculty members hesitate to embrace more interactive classroom approaches. Even those who are interested in adopting research-based instructional methods might find challenges in departments and institutions that do not provide the needed supports for faculty to change their practices, from students who are resistant to change, and in reward systems that do not prioritize teaching. Still, with support from colleagues, professional societies, and others, many faculty members have overcome these and other challenges to transform their instructional practices.

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF BER

What role has BER played in identifying students’ challenges in learning biology and in helping to promote the use of research-based practices among biology faculty members? Most BER since the mid-1990s has focused on identifying students’ conceptual understandings, developing concept inventories that measure students’ understanding of a given concept, and studying the effectiveness of different types of instructional approaches that promote greater student engagement ( Dirks, 2011 ). BER scholars use a variety of methods to study these problems. Depending on the questions being examined, these methods range from interview studies or classroom observations with a few or perhaps dozens of students, to quantitative comparisons of learning gains made with different instructional approaches across many courses or institutions. Much of this research focuses on students in the first 2 years of their undergraduate careers, typically in classroom settings in the context of large, introductory courses—the setting that provides the greatest challenge for generating engagement.

As the examples in the preceding sections illustrate, research in BER has produced some important insights into learning and, in some cases, guidance for improving teaching. A notable case of the latter comes from evolutionary biology, a field in which cognitive scientist Laura Novick and biologist Kefyn Catley have conducted extensive research about how students understand evolutionary relationships when different types of evolutionary tree representations are used ( Catley and Novick, 2008 ; Novick et al ., 2010 ). Their research shows that the form of representation that is most commonly used in undergraduate biology texts leads to the least understanding of this important evolutionary concept. As a result of their research, almost all introductory biology texts have now been changed to more effectively support undergraduate learning of evolutionary relationships, impacting the learning of hundreds of thousands of students each year.

These contributions notwithstanding, many opportunities exist to enhance the value of BER, and of DBER more generally. For example, despite the importance of fieldwork to biology, comparatively little BER has been conducted in the field. Other emerging areas of research in DBER—and in BER by extension—include longitudinal studies, studies that examine similarities and differences among different student groups, research related to the affective domain and the transfer of learning, and the development of assessments to measure student learning. According to the NRC's 2012 report on DBER, a specific challenge for BER scholars is to “identify instructional approaches that can help overcome the math phobia of many biology students and introduce more quantitative skills into the introductory curriculum, as computational biology and other mathematical approaches become more central to the field of biology” ( NRC, 2003 ).

As BER grows, clarity about supporting BER scholars versus implementing BER findings to improve undergraduate biology education will be helpful. Regarding the support of BER scholars, the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) provides a venue for BER scholars to share their research and support the development of early-career BER scholars. Several life sciences professional societies, including the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Society for Neuroscience, already offer professional development opportunities for faculty members to consider how to integrate BER findings into their teaching; others could use these models to do the same.

Findings from BER studies are increasingly accessible to those who are interested in using them to inform their teaching, as well as to those who might be interested in pursuing BER research programs. BER scholars publish their research on teaching and learning in a wide variety of journals. In a review of the BER literature from 1990–2010, Clarissa Dirks (2011) identified ∼200 empirical studies on college students’ learning, performance or attitudes. Although these articles appeared in more than 100 different journals, most were published in just four: the Journal of Research in Science Teaching , the Journal of College Science Teaching , Advances in Physiology Education , and CBE—Life Sciences Education ( LSE ). The past decade has seen a particularly rapid increase in the number of BER articles, especially in LSE .

Regarding the implementation of BER findings to improve undergraduate biology teaching, efforts are under way in several disciplines to help increase current and future faculty members’ use of research-based practices. In biology, two notable examples are the National Academies Summer Institute for Undergraduate Education in Biology and the NSF-sponsored Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) program. The Summer Institute works with teams of university faculty, emphasizing the application of teaching approaches based on education research, or “scientific teaching.” FIRST supports postdoctoral students interested in strengthening their teaching approaches. Although participants of the Summer Institute workshops reported substantial increases in their use of research-based instructional strategies over time ( Pfund et al ., 2009 ), an analysis of videotaped lessons from participants of the Summer Institute and the FIRST Program yielded mixed results concerning changes in practices ( Ebert-May et al ., 2011 ). It is important to note that alumni of the Summer Institute frequently reported that it took three or more years of experimentation before they could effectively implement learner-centered strategies ( Pfund et al ., 2009 ). As the NRC's 2012 report concludes, “These results suggest that measuring the influence of DBER and related research on teaching requires a nuanced, longitudinal model of individual behavior rather than a traditional ‘cause and effect’ model using a workshop or other delivery mechanism as the intervention” (p. 173).

Individual scholars in the BER community can promote the acceptance and use of DBER findings to improve undergraduate biology learning in two significant ways. One way is to enhance the quality of BER. As with any field, DBER has strengths and limitations. The greatest strength of DBER is the contribution of deep disciplinary knowledge to questions of teaching and learning in a discipline. In all disciplines, DBER could be enhanced by linking to other bodies of relevant research (including DBER in other disciplines), being explicitly grounded in theories of teaching and learning, using standardized measures for assessing learning gains and student attitudes, and conducting research on a larger scale than a single classroom and over longer periods of time than a single course. To link to other bodies of research, BER scholars could ask their DBER colleagues in physics, chemistry, and the geosciences to review draft manuscripts. SABER could help by establishing mechanisms to connect BER scholars to DBER studies in other disciplines; examples exist in engineering and the geosciences. And journal editors and reviewers could encourage the authors of BER articles to include citations of similar work in related fields.

BER scholars also can help to promote change at the departmental and institutional levels without assuming responsibility for sweeping reforms. Relatively straightforward strategies include disseminating key findings to colleagues or getting together on campus to discuss and strategize possible changes. BER scholars seeking a more active role in promoting institutional change might also help department chairs understand how to evaluate the research of BER faculty.

Given the unusually large number of diverse life sciences professional societies, the emerging coherence and focus of the biology undergraduate community on BER and improving learning in biology is notable. The growing body of BER literature and the professionalization of the field in the context of SABER in less than half a decade are cause for celebration. The American Association for the Advancement of Science Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology ( http://visionandchange.org ) efforts and the associated Vision and Change Leadership Fellows program ( www.pulsecommunity.org ) to drive department-level change in biology education emphasize implementation of widespread adoption of BER findings. The trajectory is promising.

1 To download a free PDF version of the report, visit www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13362 .

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April 18, 2024 | Mike Enright '88 (CLAS), University Communications

Six UConn Faculty Members Named AAAS Fellows

The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals

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Six University of Connecticut faculty members have been elected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to its newest class of fellows. The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.

The six are:

* Daniel Bolnick , a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

* Ming-Hui Chen , a professor and head of the Department of Statistics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

* Brenton Graveley , Health Net, Inc. Chair in Genetics and Developmental Biology, chair of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences at the UConn School of Medicine, and Associate Director of the Institute for Systems Genomics.

* Dr. George Kuchel , Director of the UConn Center on Aging and The Travelers Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology in the UConn School of Medicine.

* Guozhen Lu , a professor in the Department of Mathematics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

* Guiling Wang , a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Center for Environmental Science and Engineering.

Bolnick is interested in how evolution maintains genetic variation within species. Natural selection is usually thought of as a filtering process that removes all but the most-fit variants within a population, thus reducing variation. Yet, most natural populations of organisms harbor substantial genetic diversity. Bolnick’s research explores several possible solutions to this paradox. Recently, his work has focused on how parasites and their hosts co-evolve, and how their antagonism shapes variation in host immunity.

Chen has published more than 470 peer-reviewed journal articles and five books, including two advanced graduate-level books on Bayesian survival analysis and Monte Carlo methods in Bayesian computation. He served as president of the International Chinese Statistical Association and the New England Statistical Society and the chair of the Eastern Asia Chapter of International Society for Bayesian Analysis. He is currently co editor-in-chief of Statistics and Its Interface and co editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Statistics in Data Science.

Graveley’s research interests are focused on studying RNA biology, particularly for advancing our understanding of the Drosophila transcriptome, alternative splicing, and human RNA binding proteins, as well as the fundamental mechanisms of CRISPR biology. A major focus of Graveley’s lab has been the Drosophila Dscam1 gene, which contains 95 alternative exons and has the potential to express over 38,000 isoforms through extensive alternative splicing.

Kuchel was recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of medical sciences and aging research, particularly using multidisciplinary translational approaches to improve the lives of older adults. His work defining the role of biological aging in functional declines involving host defense, mobility, cognition, and voiding has contributed to the emergence of the field of geroscience and to the testing of gerotherapeutic interventions for their ability to delay the onset and progression of varied chronic diseases of aging by targeting biological aging.

Lu is well-known for his contributions in harmonic analysis (particularly multiparameter harmonic analysis), geometric analysis. and partial differential equations. He is a leading mathematician in the areas of sharp geometric and functional inequalities, particularly using the Helgason-Fourier analysis. He has published over 200 research articles and his impactful works have been cited widely by his peers. Lu is an American Mathematical Society fellow and has awarded the prestigious Simons Fellowship twice. He serves as the editor-in-chief for both the premier journal Advanced Nonlinear Studies and the De Gruyter flagship book series Studies in Mathematics. Lu’s doctoral students have taken postdoctoral positions at prestigious universities in the United States and Canada

Wang studies the Earth’s hydrological cycle, its interaction with the terrestrial ecosystems, and its variability, change, and extremes. Her research spans the topics of land-atmosphere interactions at the subseasonal to seasonal timescales, ecosystem-climate interactions at the decadal to centennial timescales, and climate change impact on water, energy, and food security. She makes use of theoretical and process-based models of various complexity, empirical modeling including machine learning, satellite remote sensing and ground observational data. Her research led to improved predictions of regional climate and hydrological extremes.

The latest class of AAAS Fellows includes 502 scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines who are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements. AAAS first started naming Fellows in 1874.

The AAAS is the publisher of the journal Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine; Science Signaling; a digital, open-access journal, Science Advances; Science Immunology; and Science Robotics. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The nonprofit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more.

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Four USF faculty among the 150th anniversary class of Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

• April 18, 2024
• Honors and Awards

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) , one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals, has announced the 2023 class of AAAS Fellows—a distinguished lifetime honor within the scientific community. This latest class is comprised of 502 faculty, researchers, scientists, engineers and innovators nationwide. 

“As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the AAAS Fellows, AAAS is proud to recognize the newly elected individuals. This year’s class embodies scientific excellence, fosters trust in science throughout the communities they serve, and leads the next generation of scientists while advancing scientific achievements,” said Sudip S. Parikh, Ph.D., AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. 

"We are honored to have four University of South Florida faculty members earn this prestigious national recognition," said USF President Rhea Law. "These talented scholars are at the forefront of advancing new knowledge and fostering innovation, and I applaud them for their important contributions to solving global challenges in their respective fields."

USF’s four new Fellows are: 

Ramon Gonzalez , professor, (elected AAAS Engineering Section) – For outstanding contributions in the fields of metabolic engineering and biomanufacturing which have the potential to revolutionize energy, chemical and pharmaceutical production, environmental remediation, and agricultural systems.

Subhra Mohapatra , professor, and principal research scientist at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital (elected AAAS Medical Sciences Section) – For pioneering advances in molecular medicine, particularly developments in nanoscale drug delivery technologies advancing cancer detection and treatment, as well as cellular and molecular therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

George Philippidis , associate dean for research (AAAS Engineering Section) – For outstanding contributions to integrating biomass and algae technologies for a cost-effective circular bioeconomy that reduces society's carbon footprint, conserves resources, and minimizes waste while promoting environmental and social justice.

Jeffrey Ryan , professor (AAAS Geology & Geography Section) – For distinguished contributions to “hard rock” geochemistry, especially in developing and examining key elemental and isotopic tracers used in the study of subduction systems, and national leadership in geoscience education.

AAAS first launched this lifetime recognition in 1874, about 25 years after the association was founded. In its 150th year, the AAAS Fellows program is proud to celebrate this new class, which joins the ranks of noted Fellows such as Alondra Nelson, the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and former deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to go to space; Steven Chu, 1997 Nobel laureate in physics who served as the 12th U.S. Secretary of Energy; W. E. B. Dubois, considered the founding father of American sociology; Ellen Ochoa, veteran astronaut and the Johnson Space Center’s first Hispanic and second female director in its history; Grace Hopper, pioneer in computer software development and programming language; and Vint Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet and received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The new Fellows will be formally recognized at an AAAS Forum in Washington, DC on September 21, 2024.

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