Biggio Center awarded $325K grant from the Centers for Disease Control to create course focused on communicating science

The Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, or Biggio Center, has received an additional $325,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, to develop a course focused on improving communication and education regarding various science topics. This award adds to more than $300,000 in funding awarded to the center over the past two years to create online training programs and public-facing educational tools for the federal agency.

Working with the Biggio Center’s instructional designers and teaching and learning consultants, the grant funds the development of a new online course, Communicating Science Clearly, designed to bring together subject-matter experts and interactive modules. The course is part of a broader effort by the CDC to enhance its education, training and planning resources available to the public and private sector.

“The opportunity to once again work with the CDC and develop content that enhances the information provided to the public and educates stakeholders about critical topics that impact their quality of life is the very ethos of what the Biggio Center does,” said Asim Ali, Biggio Center executive director. “With this new grant, we can leverage the talents of our team and add to the portfolio of courses developed for the CDC to assist the agency in its education efforts.”

Established in 2003, the Biggio Center is Auburn’s primary resource for faculty development and provides diverse programming and support to the university’s teaching and learning environment. With an emphasis on engaged, active student learning, or EASL, approaches, the center offers a cadre of developmental programming for faculty and other professionals through grant funding, mentorship and other seminars.

The grant is led by principal investigator, or PI, Ali and co-PIs Shawndra Bowers, associate director of learning experience design, and Amy Conway, instructional designer for Auburn Online.