nBiocourse

							CELS News Article
Fall, 2006


Bio Course - "The Way We Work With Life"

By: Rudi Hempe, CELS News Editor and Reporter

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URI’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences has ratcheted up its
presence in the biotechnology field by launching a web-based course that is
available worldwide to the public and especially to high school seniors who want
to get a head start and earn three credits at the college level.

Called “The Way We Work With Life,” the course was designed by Dr. Albert P.
Kausch of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology with the aid of
researchers and industry representatives from Pfizer and Amgen. The
development is also supported by Life.edu, a non-profit biotechnical organization
founded by Kausch.

The course has been offered in a classroom setting at URI for three years and
was field tested as an Internet-based course last year.

The public can log on for the lectures for free but of particular interest is that high
school seniors can enroll for $195 and take the course for three college credits at
URI. The college-level credits from URI will transfer to most programs.
Kausch expects the course will be taken also by teachers, public officials,
undergraduates, new biotech employees as well. The $195 applies to high
school students taking the course for credit.

The announcement of the new course was made at a function held at the
University Club on Oct. 20. Dr. Jeff Seemann, dean of CELS, called the launch
“the next step forward in the state for biotechnology” which increasingly is
affecting the way we live.

The debut of the Internet-based course was also praised by Jack Warner, state
commissioner of education. Warner noted that even though the course is
available to high school seniors at reduced price, the $195 still might be too
steep for some. The next state school budget has $500,000 set aside to address
the dual enrollment issue, he said.
Kausch heaped credit on Chip Longo, his graduate student, for making the high
school mentorship program work so well.

"The Way We Work With Life" is not the only URI biotechnology course open to
high school students. Sixty students from eight RI high schools are currently
taking part in lab projects alongside URI undergraduate and graduate students
who are enrolled in an upper-level class in genetic engineering. Three of them
testified to the value of the program at the launching ceremony—Shane Dugan
from Exeter-West Greenwich High School, William Wood and Shreya Aramugam
both of Barrington High School.

"I enjoy being a science major," said Wood. Aramugam was even more
emphatic: "The labs help you understand the concepts better," she said adding
that she had wanted to go into medicine but now wants to get into research.
Kausch heaped credit on Chip Longo, his graduate student, for making the high
school mentorship program work so well.

"This is a remarkable sort of partnerships," said Seemann summing up—"the
college, big and small firms and high school students. We are proud of
everyone."


View the Internet-based curriculum website for "The Way We Work With Life" at
www.lifeedu.org/.




"The Way We Work With Life" is not the only URI biotechnology course open to high
school students. Sixty students from eight RI high schools are currently taking part in lab
projects alongside URI undergraduate and graduate students who are enrolled in an
upper-level class in genetic engineering. Three of them testified to the value of the
program at the launching ceremony—Shane Dugan from Exeter-West Greenwich High
School, William Wood and Shreya Aramugam both of Barrington High School.

"I enjoy being a science major," said Wood. Aramugam was even more emphatic: "The
labs help you understand the concepts better," she said adding that she had wanted to go
into medicine but now wants to get into research.
Kausch heaped credit on Chip Longo, his graduate student, for making the high school
mentorship program work so well.

"This is a remarkable sort of partnerships," said Seemann summing up—"the college, big
and small firms and high school students. We are proud of everyone."



View the Internet-based curriculum website for "The Way We Work With Life" at
www.lifeedu.org/.