Small World Initiative® Training at Hockaday

7/19/2019

More than 20 faculty and professors from 18 universities and 2 high schools participated in a Small World Initiative® (SWI) Instructor Training Workshop in the Lyda Hill ’60 STEAM Institute at Hockaday in late July. The training was led by Hockaday's Dean of Studies, Dr. Barb Fishel, and SWI's President & CEO, Erika Kurt (Hockaday '98).

“The Small World Initiative® is an innovative program that inspires and retains students in the sciences while addressing one of the most pressing global health challenges of our time – superbugs and the antibiotic crisis. It centers around an introductory biology course that engages students through hands-on field and laboratory research on soil samples in the hunt for new antibiotics. This is particularly relevant as most antibiotics come from soil bacteria. This “crowdsourcing” approach provides a unique model to engage thousands of student researchers around the world in the quest to discover new antibiotics.” 10,000 student researchers participate in the program each year in more than 330 undergraduate institutions in 45 states and 15 countries.

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