The Bean Beetle Microbiome Project is a newly-funded NSF-funded research-education collaboration of Emory University and Morehouse College.  The overall goal of this project is to determine the importance of student autonomy in a discovery CURE based on the bean beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) microbiome across diverse institutions.

During the first four years of the project, we will run faculty professional development workshops that will train faculty how to work with bean beetles, study their microbiome, evaluate microbial community data, and implement bean beetle microbiome course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in their courses. After the workshops, faculty will return to their host institutions and implement a bean beetle microbiome CURE.  Working with bean beetles will allow student researchers to manipulate factors that might affect gut bacteria in ways that would not be possible with vertebrates or other insect model systems. Students will have the freedom to design their own experiments and to develop their own research questions, as practicing scientists do.  Grant funds will be available for the implementation of the CURE and for faculty and students to travel to conferences to present their research.  To expand the impact of the project, student-collected data will be made available on the Bean Beetle website for use in other courses and by researchers interested in insect-microbe interactions.

Beginning in the second year of the project and continuing through the end of the project, we will assess the impact of students designing their own research questions in CUREs on factors known to impact student persistence in science and their engagement in future mentored research experiences.  We will be using a mixed methods approach with surveys, structured interviews, and focus groups.

This project is funded by NSF awards DUE-1821533 to Emory University and DUE-1821184 to Morehouse College.