Affirmative Action and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from a - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Affirmative Action and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment Joe Price Economics joe_price@byu.edu 801-422-5296 Areas of Interest: Family structure; Field experiments in schools; Healthy eating; Habit formation; Parental time investments

Do affirmative action policies affect student effort? • Bowen and Bok (1998), Arcidiacono (2005), Howell (2010) all estimate impact of AA ban on college minority admissions. • These studies use current test scores of black and white students. • If affirmative action increases effort among minority students, then consequences of removing AA will be larger than predicted. • We test the impact of AA on student effort using a field experiment in which we randomly assign AA. • We use a quota policy: a set of prizes just for the disadvantaged group. • Experiment includes adjacent grades taking the same test (AMC 8). • Sample: 992 5 th -8 th grade students from several schools in Utah County. • All students took a pre-test. They received a sheet with the score and prize structure. • Neutral condition: two grades competing for same prizes; Quota: Separate prizes. • We provide a website where students can practice two weeks leading up to test.

The quota improves The quota doubles student performance student effort in by 0.62 points (about using our website. 25% of a standard deviation). Performance declines a bit for the advantaged group. Next Steps: Chicago experiment Much smaller but still NSF grant slightly positive coefficient for the advantaged group

Education Research in the Life Sciences Jamie Jensen Biology Jamie.Jensen@byu.edu (801) 422-6896 Areas of Interest: The development and transferability of scientific reasoning skills; appropriate assessment techniques; effective strategies for constructivist teaching in the STEM classroom; strategies to enhance STEM retention 4

Do you want to take the same scientific approach to your teaching as you do with your research? I can help. Examples • Are students more motivated to learn if they handle authentic materials in lab? Heaps, A., Briggs, J., Dawson, T., Hansen, M., and Jensen, J. L. (In press). Deriving population growth models by growing fruit fly colonies. American Biology Teacher . • Do scientific reasoning abilities predict retention in STEM majors? Jensen, J. L. , Neeley, S., Hatch, J. B., & Piorczynski, T. (In press). Learning scientific reasoning skills may be the key to retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Journal of College Student Retention . • Can access to personal genomics tools influence students’ learning experiences in genetics? Weber, K. S., Jensen, J. L. , & Johnson, S.M. (In press). Anticipation of personal genomics data enhances interest and learning environment in Genomics and Molecular Biology undergraduate courses. PLoSONE

Examples • Is a ‘flipped’ classroom going to improve what I am already doing? Jensen, J. L. , Kummer, T. A., & Godoy, P. D. d. M. (2015). Improvements from a flipped classroom may simply be the fruits of active learning. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 14 , 1-12. • Does it matter if my exams consist of low-level recall or high-level problem solving? Jensen, J. L. , McDaniel, M. A., Woodard, S. M., & Kummer, T. A. (2014) Teaching to the Test, or Testing to Teach: Exams Requiring Higher Order Thinking Skills Encourage Greater Conceptual Understanding. Educational Psychology Review, 26 , 307-329. • Does it matter how long my exams are? Jensen, J. L. , Berry, D. A., & Kummer, T. A. (2013). Investigating the effects of exam length on performance and cognitive fatigue. PLoS ONE , 8 (8), e70270. • If I use collaborative groups, does it matter how I group students? Jensen, J. L. , & Lawson, A. E. (2011). Effects of collaborative group composition and inquiry instruction on reasoning gains and achievement in college biology. Cell Biology Education – Life Science Education , 10 (1), 64-73.

Thinking about trying something new in the classroom? Want to know if it worked? • Come to me with an idea and I can help you form a testable hypothesis grounded in educational theory • Contact me before you make the change so we can • Collect control data • Obtain IRB approval • Perfect experimental design • Get funding?? • Be willing to write • That’s it! Easy as pie. 

Designing the Building Expertise in STem Application (BEST App) Brainstorming to define the scientific reasoning Assigning the BEST App and process skills to your students inherent to your pre/post discipline Recruiting Testing the Defining SPARS teaching majors BEST App in for a in STEM your disciplines development classroom team Involving the pre- service teachers in the process

Helper T cell role in Immunity to Infection Scott Weber Microbiology and Molecular Biology scott_weber@byu.edu (801) 422-6259 Areas of Interest: Immunology; Host-pathogen interactions; Molecular Biology; Mechanisms of T Cell Activation and Memory Cell Formation; High Affinity T cell Receptors

Helper T cell role in immunity to infection Scott Weber 3137 Life Sciences Building (801) 422-6259 Microbiology and Molecular Biology Brigham Young University I am an Immunologist using molecular, biochemical, and cellular techniques to understand T cell activation and improve the immune response to infection.

Central role of helper T cells in immunity to infection CD8 B cell T cell Helper T cell M f DC

T cell activation controlled on numerous levels Ca 2+ Helper Ca 2+ Ca 2+ T cell Ca 2+ M f 1) T cell receptor: T cell function dependent upon affinity of TCR-peptide MHC 2) Cell signaling: Signaling cascade regulates the T cell response to antigen 3) Co-receptors: Co-receptors have a critical role in T cell inhibition and activation

① Examining memory cell generation to infection ② Engineering soluble high affinity T cell receptors ③ Measuring T cell activation with calcium influx

Two TCR transgenic mice specific for Listeria LLO118 LLO56 LLO190-205/I-A b LLO190-205/I-A b Vα2, Vβ2 Vα2, Vβ2 LLO118 Ly5.1 LLO56 Thy1.1 TCRs differ by 15 amino acids (10 in the CDR3β) TCRtg mice LLO56 LLO118 CD4 + cells CD4 + cells

Key finding: LLO118 better in primary response and LLO56 better in secondary response Primary Response Secondary Response - How can helper T cell memory formation be improved? - What role does cell death have on memory cell generation? - How does TCR affinity affect recognition of infectious agents? - What is the role of CD5 in T cell function? Weber et al (2012) Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Protein engineering using yeast display Single chain T cell receptor (scTCR) V  V  HA c- myc scTCR c-myc Yeast Cell Fluorescent HA Ligand Aga2p Yeast Proteins S S (anchors) S S 5µm Aga1p Yeast Cell Wall ~50,000identicalcopies/cell Why use yeast display? 1) Generate therapeutic and diagnostic reagents. 2) Increase biological understanding of T cell activation. 3) Stabilized TCRs are amenable to affinity and structural studies

Engineering high affinity T cell receptors V  V  - How is T cell activation altered when TCR affinity is increased? - Can high affinity TCRs be used as immunoregulatory therapeutics? Weber et al (2005) Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Calcium ions are involved in numerous cellular events Fertilization * Transcription * Lymphocyte activation * Muscle contraction * Cell death Ca 2+ Ca 2+ Ca 2+ Ca 2+ Ca 2+ TCR CD3 Orai1 Cell membrane Ca 2+ IP3 Calcineurin Ca 2+ Ca 2+ Ca 2+ NFAT Ca 2+ ER NFAT Nucleus

Measuring T cell activation with calcium influx Th1 Th2 Th17 - How is calcium influx and T cell activation altered in memory cells and high affinity T cells?

Conserved pathways involved in regulating central metabolism Julianne Grose Microbiology and Molecular Biology julianne_grose@byu.edu (801) 422-4940 Areas of Interest: Regulation of metabolism in response to the availability of nutrients and other factors affecting growth, the study of PAS kinase, control of NAD and NADP levels within the cell 20

Total US Government Spending for United States Welfare 5% Pensions Defense 18% 14% Interest 5% Education Other spending 13% 9% General government 3% Health Care Dec 11 th , 2003 The Economist 24% Transportation 5% Protection Adapted from usgovernmentspending.com 4%

STORAGE REPAIR GROWTH/ 10% 10% PROLIFERATION 2% BUILDING BLOCKS 20% ENERGY 40% REPAIR 1% STORAGE REPAIR 1% 1% GROWTH/ PROLIFERATION 2% GROWTH/ Storage PROLIFERATION 30% BUILDING BLOCKS 40% 28% ENERGY BUILDING BLOCKS 29% 20% ENERGY 30%

Cellular Resource Allocation glucose STORAGE Pentose Phosphate glucose-6-P Pathway (GLYCOGEN/FATS) REDUCING POWER (NADPH) pyruvate BUILDING BLOCKS (amino acids/nucleotides/vitamins ) TCA respiration ENERGY (ATP)

Nutrient sensing protein kinases regulate cellular processes through phosphorylation ATP ADP Protein P Protein Protein Kinases Enzymatic Activity Nutrient Cellular Localization Binding Partners Stability/degradation

Sensory Protein Kinases Regulate Metabolism glucose kinase STORAGE Pentose Phosphate glucose-6-P Pathway PAS (GLYCOGEN/FATS) REDUCING POWER (NADPH) pyruvate BUILDING BLOCKS (amino acids/nucleotides/vitamins) TCA mTOR respiration AMPK ENERGY (ATP)