George Murphy

gmurphy@mtsu.edu

George Murphy

Biology

Discipline specific equipment

Wiser-Patten Bld. 307, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313

N/A

N/A

The Biology Department enrolls approximately 3,000 students in BIOL 1030 (Exploring Life, general education science course) and BIOL 1110 and 1120 (General Biology I and II, majors and pre-professional) each year. Each course has a laboratory component (BIOL 1030- 2 hr/week, BIOL 1110 and 1120-3 hr/week). All laboratories are taught in six rooms (WPS- 307, 309, 310, 311, 312, and 313) in the Wiser-Patten Building. Traditional laboratories are equipped for 24 students (microscopes, study materials, etc), and lecture rooms were built to accommodate multiples of that number. Biology has moved to larger lecture rooms, and overall size in multiples of 24 is less important as a limiting factor in scheduling. Also, data from Dr. Watson Hannah show potential room capacities of 28 in our six laboratories referenced above. This proposal is for additional microscopes to service laboratories of 28 students rather the current 24. Additional tables are available for each laboratory. More efficient use of our limited space and laboratory instructor staffing is our goal. We request funding for six microscopes (four for additional student capacity and two as replacements or dissecting microscopes depending on needs of individual labs) for each of the six laboratories for a total of 36.