ASPB - Education Foundation - Grant Awards Program

Mary Rumpho-Kennedy
Taking Solar-Powered Sea Slugs into the Classroom

University of Maine professor Dr. Mary E. Rumpho-Kennedy will be teaching students about photosynthesis and symbiosis by using solar-powered sea slugs. Her previous work has shown that students are more eager to learn about plant biological processes because of these novel creatures.

Rumpho-Kennedy says the fascination with the creature, Elysia chlorotica, is created by their resemblance to "crawling leaves." Their brilliant green color is the result of chloroplasts that are taken from an alga, Vaucheria litorea. Although it is not fully understood how the sea slugs acquire the organelles, once they are "ingested" they function much like they would in plant cells.
One objective of the project is to create color pamphlets and exhibits that demonstrate the functions of chloroplasts and that can be widely disseminated to students of all ages. Furthermore, Rumpho-Kennedy will create interactive multi-media educational materials that will be accessible through the Internet and eventually on CD-ROM. Last year she was able to culture sea slugs in the lab for the first time, increasing the number available to send to science teachers to use in thier classes. Previously, her research relied on a limited number of collected specimens.

Part of the $10,000 grant will go toward continuing to find more effective ways of cultivating eggs in the laboratory. She wants to create Sea Slug Kits that can be sent to classrooms for display and teaching. The kits will be designed such that students can witness the growth from egg to mature specimen.

In the long run, she hopes that students will not only learn about how the chloroplasts function but that they may, through their own observations, help to explain the mechanism through which these sea slugs acquire chloroplasts.

Terry Woodford-Thomas
Multi-Dimensional Walk-In Plant Leaf

Visitors to the St. Louis Science Center (SLSC) will someday walk through a fully functioning plant leaf thanks to the ingenuity of Terry Woodford-Thomas, a scientist at the Danforth Plant Science Center (DPSC). The partnership brings together the expertise of the more than 250 scientists at DPSC and the innovative exhibits and scientific educational skills of SLSC.

Participants will experience a plant like never before, from entering through the petiole to standing underneath a chloroplast as light intensity changes to mimic the sun. The exhibit will demonstrate biological processes such as converting light into chemical energy, uptake of water and nutrients, and respiration.

Woodford-Thomas expects that as the museum visitors better understand the complexity of plants, they will gain a greater appreciation for them. In particular, the project aims to teach the public about how plants may solve some of the problems facing humans by developing pest and drought resistant food crops, alternative fuels, and better medicines.

The $30,000 ASPB grant, along with private donations, will be used to build a prototype. The goal is to have the exhibit completed within three to four years.

David E. Salt
Genomics Revolution Uncloaked

With this year's grant, Purdue University Professor David E. Salt will be creating a three dimensional, interactive exhibit to demonstrate the benefits of plant genomics for agriculture, human health, and the environment. Genomics Revolution Uncloaked aims to set straight any misunderstanding the public has about the risks and benefits of modifying plant genes.

Salt and his team will be constructing a large-scale plant cell through which visitors will walk while at the same time having "virtual" control over environmental stressors. As participants introduce pressures such as salinity, toxic metals, and bacteria into the surrounding environment, they will see first-hand how the cell's biological processes are affected. The exhibit will also include transcriptomic, metobolomic, and ionomic profile panels to monitor cellular changes.

Exhibit information will explain the connections between daily human activity and the increasing introduction of these factors into the environment. Likewise, exhibit visitors will learn how adding or turning off some genes will improve the plant's ability to survive, creating opportunities to increase food production and expand medical research capabilities.

The $30,000 grant will be used to purchase special effects equipment and a computer capable of developing and running new interactive software.

Possible venues for the exhibit include the Indiana State Museum, Fort Wayne's Science Central, and Purdue's Bindley Bioscience Center. Eventually, it will be a traveling exhibition.

Peggy G. Lemaux
Disseminating Educational Resources: "Foods: Past and Present" and "Genes, Genomics, and Diversity"

The Education Foundation has awarded University of California, Berkeley, Cooperative Extension Specialist Peggy G. Lemaux $1,820 to continue her efforts to educate the public about the importance of plants in advancing food science.

With a 2004 GAP grant from ASPB, she developed educational baseball-type cards and exhibits that were showcased at county fairs, professional organizations, and student gatherings. The success of the program has been overwhelming, and there is now a waiting list of organizations wishing to borrow the displays.

The grant will pay for postage to send these materials to organizations that cannot afford the shipping cost.

This year a new educational game, Tic, Tac, Grow, was developed by graduate students to teach K-7 teachers and students about what plants look like and how important they are to the way we live. The interactive nature of the game both entertains and teaches.

The genesis of the project was to create readily available material for science professionals who were willing to do outreach work but had limited time to compile or develop information.