Spotlight on the American Society for Cell Biology

Today's young scientists are looking at a broad range of career paths that may call for quite different sorts of preparation to compete for and hold jobs. Frank Solomon, chair of the Education Committee of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has noted that today's postdoctoral fellows will need employable skills very different from those of their predecessors. "The major issue facing those who train young scientists today is whether current doctoral programs we provide are appropriate for the jobs our students are going to find," Dr. Solomon said. "For those who aspire to teach, it is not clear that a long stint producing original research - the crucial part of the standard Ph.D. course - is a useful preparation for their futures."

Recognition and promotion
of teaching excellence

Most ASCB members are involved in teaching, either formally to undergraduate, graduate, or medical students or informally through a variety of outreach activities. Recognizing the importance of teaching in the professional lives of its members and to honor their outstanding educational contributions, ASCB is preparing to inaugurate an award for teaching excellence. ASCB has already been providing a unique resource for faculty and their students through "WWW.Cell Biology Education," a column written for the ASCB Newsletter by Robert Blystone, professor of Biology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. His column describes web sites of interest to biology educators and explains how they can be used effectively in a variety of teaching situations.

"Educational resources are increasingly finding their way onto the web," commented Dr. Blystone. "Some of these resources are extremely useful, even timely. Unfortunately, many are not peer reviewed and they are too often obscure. Professional societies such as ASCB are in an excellent position to identify these resources, find the credible ones, and announce their existence. Professional societies, through their extensive membership, can be at the vanguard of indexing quality learning materials that find their way onto the web."

The ASCB Newsletter is available both electronically and in a traditional paper form, so Dr. Blystone's column serves as a readily accessible clearinghouse for innovative, technology-based, educational resources. "WWW.Cell Biology Education" provides a singular service to biology educators who are often required to cover topics outside their fields of specialization and need the combined expertise of a cell biologist and educational technologist for quality assurance.

Peer review and dissemination
of teaching innovations

ASCB is now exploring a potential role in the peer review of laboratory experiments and other instructional materials for undergraduate classrooms. Sarah Elgin, an ASCB Education Committee member and a biology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, is convinced that "peer review and publication are essential to create a scholarly literature in the teaching of cell biology. Our own society's effort is in the formative stage, however." By contrast, Dr. Elgin points to two highly successful projects of the ASCB Education Committee. Committee members have compiled a manual, "Exercises in Cell Biology for the Undergraduate Laboratory," a collection of reliable and creative laboratory exercises. In addition, the committee coordinates the "Education Initiatives Forum" annually. Now an established part of the ASCB national meeting, these series of half-hour, daily forums are offered on selected topics that are relevant to teaching cell biology at the college and precollege levels.

Dr. A. Malcolm Campbell (standing), an active member of the Education Committee of the American Society for Cell Biology, leads a session on “Teaching Biology in Context and on a Need to Know Basis” during a visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in conjunction with a Project Kaleidoscope workshop. An assistant professor of Biology at Davidson College (Davidson, N.C.), Dr. Campbell is the author of “How to get a Teaching Job at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution.”

Like many other professional societies in the life sciences, ASCB was founded to share scientific knowledge in a specific discipline. The society supports scholarly exchange at its annual meeting and in its publications. It invests in the future of basic scientific research by providing training and development opportunities for students and young investigators and by informing the public and Congress of the importance of biomedical research. In recent years, ASCB has become a leader in promoting improvements in education and better representation by women and minorities in cell biology. Comprising 9,000 individuals, ASCB is a member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), a coalition representing 56,000 scientists. All of the FASEB member societies are committed to fundamental research and education in their disciplines.