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Experiential Engineering Through iGEM—An Undergraduate Summer Competition in Synthetic Biology

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Abstract

Unlike students in other engineering disciplines, undergraduates in biological engineering typically have limited opportunity to develop design competencies, and even fewer chances to implement their designed projects. The international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition is a student Synthetic Biology competition that, in 2009, included 110 teams from across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the US. Working at their own schools over the summer, the students use a kit of biological parts from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, as well as new parts of their own design, to build biological systems that operate in living cells. Two years of survey data collected from undergraduates after their iGEM experiences in 2007 and 2008 suggest that both learning and identity as a biological engineer increase as a result of iGEM.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the students and faculty associated with iGEM who participated in these surveys and so candidly described their experiences. We also thank R. Rettburg and M. Lizarazo for distribution of the survey to iGEM participants. We thank Malcolm Campbell and Fred Winston for improving this manuscript. Funding for the survey distribution and analysis was from the NSF-funded Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC).

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Correspondence to Natalie H. Kuldell.

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Mitchell, R., Dori, Y.J. & Kuldell, N.H. Experiential Engineering Through iGEM—An Undergraduate Summer Competition in Synthetic Biology. J Sci Educ Technol 20, 156–160 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-010-9242-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-010-9242-7

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