Diabetes is one of the largest global epidemics, necessitating training for a new generation of scientists and physicians to work on the disease. Undergraduate research experiences can build an educational pipeline for talent in these professions. A NIH-sponsored summer diabetes research internship at the University of Virginia provided…

A study of modern genetics requires students to successfully unite the principles of Mendelian genetics with the functions of DNA. Traditional means of teaching genetics are often successful in teaching Mendelian and molecular ideas but not in allowing students to see how the two subjects relate. The laboratory module presented here attempts to…

The co-occurrence of suicidal ideation, depression, and conduct disturbance is likely explained in part by correlated genetic and environmental risk factors. Little is known about the specific nature of these associations. Structured interviews on 2,814 twins from the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development (VTSABD) and Young…

Early warning systems have been progressively implemented in higher education institutions to predict student performance. However, they usually fail at effectively integrating the many information sources available at universities to make more accurate and timely predictions, they often lack decision-making reasoning to motivate the reasons…

The MicRoboCop project introduces chemistry students to the concepts and protocols of synthetic biology. MicRoboCop is a biosensor that has been designed for unique applications in forensic chemistry. The lab is carried out in collaboration with an instructor teaching a genetics course. Students in the biology course synthesize biosensors using…

Background: A critical issue in devising effective interventions for the treatment of children's behavioral and emotional problems identifying genuine family environmental factors that place children at risk. In most twin and family studies, environmental factors are confounded with both direct genetic risk from parents and the indirect effect of…

The Applied and Industrial Mathematics program partners applied mathematics students with businesses, governments, laboratories, and agencies to solve real problems. We will discuss the logistics of the program and give advice on starting and running similar programs. We also give a detailed example of a specific project, namely our work with the…

Background: Despite the increased risk of depression and conduct problems in children of depressed parents, the mechanism by which parental depression affects their children's behavioral and emotional functioning is not well understood. The present study was undertaken to determine whether parental depression represents a genuine environmental…

Factor score estimation is a controversial topic in psychometrics, and the estimation of factor scores from exploratory factor models has historically received a great deal of attention. However, both confirmatory factor models and the existence of missing data have generally been ignored in this debate. This article presents a simulation study…

A host of factors including genetic influences, temperament characteristics, learning experiences, information processing biases, parental psychopathology, and specific parenting practices have been hypothesized to contribute to the development and expression of children's phobias. In the present study, the authors focused on parental…

Prostate cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells in the body grow out of control in the walnut-sized prostate gland. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-American men have a higher rate of getting the disease and dying from it than any other racial or ethnic group. One in five African-American men has a chance…

Background: Growing evidence indicates a link between unintentional injury and both disruptive and emotional psychopathology. We present further evidence of these associations and address the underlying mechanisms. We also examine the genetic contribution to unintentional injury. Methods: The Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral…

Variation and polymorphism are concepts that are central to genetics and genomics, primary biological disciplines in which high school students and undergraduates require a solid foundation. From 1998 through 2002, a web-based genetics education program was developed for high school teachers and students. The program included an exercise on using…

Objective: We investigated the role of genetic and environmental factors in the developmental association among symptoms of eating disorders, depression, and anxiety syndromes in 8-13-year-old and 14-17-year-old twin girls. Methods: Multivariate genetic models were fitted to child-reported longitudinal symptom data gathered from clinical interview…

As many teachers of communication come to realize, students often operate under the misconception that the effective use of language consists primarily of memorizing and applying the rules and regulations of grammar. Even worse, some students believe that they must inherit a talent for language and that without a genetic predisposition, they can…