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All Are Welcome at This Online ASMCUE Gathering!

The 2025 ASMCUE Planning Committee is excited to announce an additional option to engage with ASMCUE this year: the new ASMCUE Summer Series! The completely online program is designed by, for and with the biology undergraduate education community, and offered through a convenient and easy-to-use Zoom meeting format.  

You can expect the same learning experience you have come to know at ASMCUE, in a cost-effective and online format, accessible from anywhere in the world! Attendees will gather to share classroom strategies, hear biology education research updates and meet new colleagues who teach the same classes. 

Preliminary Schedule

Detailed schedule will be available in mid-June.

Wednesday, July 9, 1:30–3 p.m. ET
  • 1:30–1:40 p.m. ET: Introduction to 2025 ASMCUE Summer Series.
  • 1:40–2:30 p.m. ET: Plenary Talk: “Teaching Scientifically” by Representatives from Tiny Earth.
Scientific teaching is both the teaching of science and the science of teaching. Instructors who practice scientific teaching approach teaching with the spirit of scientific research and engage students in authentic science practices. They support student learning through active learning experiences, intentional pedagogy and iterative improvements. 

Teaching scientifically leverages evidence-based practices that provide opportunities for all students to learn science in ways that represent the discipline. It draws on several frameworks that support learning for all students, such as the facets of science, dimensions of active learning and backward design. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) draw on all these frameworks and therefore provide students from all backgrounds access to research and discovery. 

Tiny Earth logo
The Tiny Earth logo.
Join Tiny Earth Director Sarah Miller, along with several Tiny Earth Partner Instructors (TEPIs), to delve into the many ways that teaching scientifically can foster effective learning environments that improve students’ engagement with science. In this session, Miller will provide an overview of Tiny Earth and scientific teaching, then facilitate a panel discussion with experienced TEPIs who have implemented the Tiny Earth CURE at a range of institution types. 
  • 2:30–3 p.m. ET: Everyone Can Be a Scholarly Teacher: Using and Developing Evidence-based Practices in Your Classroom

Wednesday, July 16, 1:30–3 p.m. ET
  • 1:30–2 p.m. ET: Student-centered Teaching Case Studies as Authentic Assessments in Medical Microbiology.
  • 2–2:10 p.m. ET: Using Case Studies to Link Microbiology and Social Determinants of Health.
  • 2:10–2:20 p.m. ET: To be announced.
  • 2:20–2:30 p.m. ET: How to Use a Padlet in the Virtual Classroom.
  • 2:30–3 p.m. ET: Roundtable Community Discussions About Current Topics in Teaching.

Wednesday, July 23, 1:30–3 p.m. ET
  • 1:30–2 p.m. ET: Using ASM’s Fundamental Statements for Course and Curricula Design.
  • 2–2:10 p.m. ET: Connecting Undergraduate Mentors With High School Students in the Discovery of Environmental Microbes.
  • 2:10–2:20 p.m. ET: “Shark Tank” for Antimicrobial Therapies. 
  • 2:20–2:30 p.m. ET: Accessible, Open-Source Bioinformatics for Researchers, Educators and Students Using the Bacterial and Viral Bioinformatic Resource Center (BV-BRC).
  • 2:30–3 p.m. ET: Mentoring in CUREs: A Multi-Institutional Investigation of Student Experiences and Outcomes.

Wednesday, July 30, 1:30–3 p.m. ET
  • 1:30–2 p.m. ET: Cross-Continental Microbiology: A Bidirectional Experiential Learning Exchange.
  • 2–2:10 p.m. ET: Building Immunity: A Scaffolded Hands-On Foam Model for Undergraduate Learning .
  • 2:10–2:20 p.m. ET: Isolating and Racing, Slime-Producing Bacteria, As a Way to Introduce Students to the Exopolysaccharides Produced by Many Bacteria.
  • 2:20–2:30 p.m. ET: Resistance Unplugged: Interactive Approaches to Teaching Antimicrobial Resistance.
  • 2:30–3 p.m. ET: Roundtable Community Discussions About Current Topics in Teaching.

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 1:30–3 p.m. ET
  • 1:30–2 p.m. ET: Plenary Talk: “The Human Microbiome in Precision Medicine” by Jack Gilbert, Ph.D. (University of California, San Diego).
Headshot of Jack Gilbert
Jack Gilbert, Ph.D.
The human microbiome is a high-dimensional and dynamic part of our physiology that plays a key role in managing health and individualized responses to diet and medicine. The immune system controls our interaction with the microbial world, and the microbial communities in our bodies are central to modulating the immune response. Changes in the human microbiome and metabolisms have substantial influence on atopy, neurological disorders, metabolic disorders and a range of complex conditions and disease states. Diet is incredibly important in shaping human health and the microbiome, altering both composition and metabolic activity, resulting in changes in immune, endocrine and neurological systems. Measuring diet through surveys, apps or photographs has become indispensable to our efforts to associate microbiome composition with physiological response to specific dietary components. Microbiome-Wide Association Studies (MWAS) combined with novel quantitative multi-omic approaches and automated at-home sampling devices are enabling us to use AI techniques to determine personalized responses to nutrition that drive diseases states and treatment efficacy. Through these innovations we are finally realizing the paradigm of precision medicine for facilitating patient care. 
  • 2 – 2:30 p.m. ET: Project Leadership in Action: Advancing Teamwork and Accountability in STEM Classrooms 
  • 2:30 – 3 p.m. ET: Roundtable Community Discussions About Current Topics in Teaching 

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 1:30–3 p.m. ET
  • 1:30–2 p.m. ET: To be announced.
  • 2–2:10 p.m. ET: To be announced.
  • 2:10–2:20 p.m. ET: Harnessing ChatGPT and LMS for Formative Assessment in Microbiology Courses.
  • 2:20–2:30 p.m. ET: AI Course Chatbots for Student Support.
  • 2:30–3 p.m. ET: Roundtable Community Discussions About Current Topics in Teaching. 
  • 2:55–3 p.m. ET: Closing Comments From the ASMCUE Planning Committee.

Format 

  • We will offer a variety of session types hosted live on the Zoom meeting platform: Plenary, 30-minute skill-building sessions and 10-minute microbrews and roundtable discussions. 
  • If there are more proposals for sessions and microbrews than we have capacity for the live program, the ASMCUE Planning Committee may opt to provide additional asynchronous-only content in the program.   
  • Registration and content will be hosted in ASM’s Online Learning Center, PathLMS. 
  • All events except roundtable discussions will be recorded and available for viewing until March 31, 2026.  

Eligibility

  • ASMCUE Summer Series is open to all current and future undergraduate biology educators.  
  • For participation, there is no application process and no attendee capacity limit; all are welcome to attend.  
  • This completely online gathering will require participants to use Zoom meeting.  

Registration Details

  • ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿members (all categories except supporting members or student members): $200 for the 6-part series. 
  • ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿student members: $125 for the 6-part series. 
  • Non-members or ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿supporting members: $300 for the 6-part series. 
  • No refunds and no discounts will be given. 
  • All registrants will receive links to recordings of presentations (but not roundtable discussions), and they will have access until March 31, 2026.  
  • After registering, you will receive a series of 7 emails from webinars@blueskyelearn.com that will contain the calendar invites and Zoom meeting links to join each session.  

Contact Information

Rachel Horak , ASMCUE@asmusa.org