Samiksha Raut, Ph.D., left, and Nancy AbneyTwo scholars from the University of Alabama at Birmingham were selected as members of the first cohort of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Biology Teaching Assistant Program Scholars, a network of professionals enacting research projects to collect and analyze data about graduate training assistants’ professional development.
Nancy Abney, an instructor and program manager in the UAB Graduate School, will assess the development of graduate teaching assistants’ beliefs about teaching and learning. Samiksha Raut, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology, will investigate the comparison of undergraduate student perceptions of native and international graduate teaching assistants in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.
BioTAP aims to improve teaching professional development for biology graduate students so that these graduate teaching assistants can deliver the best possible teaching and learning environment for undergraduate students in their classes.