The UA’s Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) recently announced a new partnership with Arizona Project WET (APW), one of the organizations that AHS has supported over the years through our annual symposium. Kerry Schwartz, APW, and Jean McLain, WRRC, have been awarded a grant from the USDA Agricultural and Food Research Initiative for their new collaborative project, Bringing Microbiology and Water Quality to Arizona Classrooms: Workforce Development through Teacher Training.
Starting in July, APW facilitators will engage in learning microbiological laboratory techniques from Dr. McLain and her lab manager. They will then collaborate on developing a curriculum and lab manual for secondary school teachers on the microbiological techniques used to assess water quality, including traditional culturing and cutting-edge molecular analyses. This project will bridge the gap between research and secondary schools and will increase the number of teachers trained in food and agricultural sciences. Teachers will develop new skills to integrate agricultural science concepts into their classroom, broaden their students’ understanding of agricultural science careers, and forge partnerships with research faculty.