Halmos College Accepted into HHMI Science Education Alliance

In January 2020, Halmos College was accepted into the HHMI Science Education Alliance (SEA). SEA is a growing community of educators and institutions that collaborate to implement high-impact science education practices at scale and in partnership with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). By working as an alliance, the hope is that higher education will have a better chance of driving systemic and long-lasting change in science education to best position all students for success. This acceptance places the Halmos College undergraduate biology program among leaders for student success in the sciences.

Halmos College faculty members Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D. and Katie Crump, Ph.D. spearheaded the creation of the SEA-PHAGES program at NSU.  PHAGES, or Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science, is a program where students collect soil samples in hopes to find new viruses, called phage, that attack bacteria.  These newly identified phages could potentially be used in the future to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.  The 3-credit courses [BIOL 1000 and BIOL 1001 Research to Biological Research Lab (I and II)] will be open to freshman and sophomore students beginning in Fall 2020.