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The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological qualitative study was to describe the precollege interactions of undergraduate engineering students with low-income and economic marginalization (LIEM). Our analysis yielded three major themes regarding precollege interactions: (a) family and kinship as a source of motivation, (b) educators as encouragers, and (c) building bridges with professionals. We discuss the importance of these findings within the community cultural wealth framework, highlighting important considerations and implications for school counselors. 

We evaluated the efficacy of a technical assistance (TA) model for increasing the competitiveness of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions (MSI) seeking funding to expand their teacher training through the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship (Noyce) Program. The Noyce Program addresses the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) goal to support at least 100,000 new STEM middle and high school teachers. The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network engaged in a series of strategies to broaden participation of Noyce to MSIs, with the long-term goal of diversifying the pipeline of new STEM teachers. Results found that of the 335 active Noyce awards, 39 were awards to MSIs. Of the 39, 23 (59%) were awarded to institutions represented in at least one QEM Noyce TA workshop. This study looks at the potential of TA models for HBCUs and MSIs to generalize across a spectrum of initiatives aimed at strengthening the nation’s teacher education programs, and graduating quality STEM teachers. 

Abstract In nature, plants experience rapid changes in light intensity and quality throughout the day. To maximize growth, they have established molecular mechanisms to optimize photosynthetic output while protecting components of the light‐dependent reaction and CO₂fixation pathways. Plant phenotyping of mutant collections has become a powerful tool to unveil the genetic loci involved in environmental acclimation. Here, we describe the phenotyping of the transfer‐DNA (T‐DNA) insertion mutant line SALK_008491, previously known asnhd1‐1. Growth in a fluctuating light regime caused a loss in growth rate accompanied by a spike in photosystem (PS) II damage and increased non‐photochemical quenching (NPQ). Interestingly, an independentnhd1null allele did not recapitulate the NPQ phenotype. Through bulk sequencing of a backcrossed segregating F₂pool, we identified an ~14‐kb large deletion on chromosome 3 (Chr3) in SALK_008491 affecting five genes upstream ofNHD1. BesidesNHD1, which encodes for a putative plastid Na⁺/H⁺antiporter, the stromal NAD‐dependent D‐3‐phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase 3 (PGDH3) locus was eradicated. Although some changes in the SALK_008491 mutant's photosynthesis can be assigned to the loss of PGDH3, our follow‐up studies employing respective single mutants and complementation with overlapping transformation‐competent artificial chromosome (TAC) vectors reveal that the exacerbated fluctuating light sensitivity in SALK_008491 mutants result from the simultaneous loss of PGDH3 and NHD1. Altogether, the data obtained from this large deletion‐carrying mutant provide new and unintuitive insights into the molecular mechanisms that function to protect the photosynthetic machinery. Moreover, our study renews calls for caution when setting up reverse genetic studies using T‐DNA lines. Although second‐site insertions, indels, and SNPs have been reported before, large deletion surrounding the insertion site causes yet another problem. Nevertheless, as shown through this research, such unpredictable genetic events following T‐DNA mutagenesis can provide unintuitive insights that allow for understanding complex phenomena such as the plant acclimation to dynamic high light stress.