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STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Students working with the Genomics Education Partnership currently participate in a voluntary pre/post-course survey to assess their attitudes toward science and to report the gains they achieved by participating in this research experience, and a pre/post-course quiz to assess their increased understanding of the organization and function of genes and genomes. Dr. Eckdahl, Dr. Elgin (Washington University) and other faculty involved in the GEP would now like to determine how these students value the course one or more years after the event, and have devised a “Survey of GEP Student Alumni.” Primarily, this human subjects research is intended to gather information on the long-term educational value and career impact of the GEP research experience as implemented in standard education settings at colleges and universities. While having students do research inallows students to develop an understanding of basic concepts and tools underlying molecular genetics and genomics that they do not gain (or retain) from lecture-based courses on the same topic. Further, we hope the experience will encourage students to maintain or develop an interest in biology research, and will increase their confidence in their own abilities to engage in research. The survey has been developed to gather information on the student’s current occupation, and the degree to which they feel that the GEP experience helped them to attain their goals. The research aims include: 1) evaluating the effectiveness of the GEP approach in providing students with a memorable research experience; and, 2) empirically exploring the value of a genomics education program in an upper level laboratory course from an educational and career perspective. The results of this evaluation will be reported to the science and science education communities at large in addition to being published in journals and books as appropriate. STATEMENT OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Will send an email to former students who participated in the GEP program as part of BIO311 and ask them to complete an online anonymous survey. ANTICIPATED RISKS AND BENEFITS Only risks associated with everyday activities are anticipated. SUBJECT SELECTION The student participants will be those enrolled in BIO331 Bioinformatics in prior years (from 2005 to the present). These students were typically juniors and seniors when they took the course, majoring in biology, biochemistry/molecular biology, or biotechnology. Similar students take GEP-connected courses at other colleges and universities. The distribution of race, gender, and ethnicity should reflect that of the students majoring in these subjects. CONFIDENTIALITY The anonymity of the respondants will be maintained. Aggregate data from a given school will be supplied to the instructor from that school. All data from the survey will be appropriately aggregated before broader dissemination to the science education community. Extension Request on 09-26-2012 This survey is being conducted now until October 15, 2012. Final Report on 10-26-2012 The period for collection of this survey data has ended. The data will be analyzed and become part of a manuscript to be submitted for publication by the Genomics Education Partnership.