Mentoring
Having been a non-traditional and first-generation college student, Dr. Karr feels that strong mentoring has played a significant role in her career. Therefore, she is passionate about implementing mentoring relationships to increase the retention of first-generation and underrepresented students in STEM fields. Additionally, Dr. Karr served as a mentor for several junior faculty members through the OU CoBRE in Structural Biology. From 2020-to 2022, Dr. Karr has overseen the campu-wide NSF LSAMP program at OU.
Additional Mentoring:
- Lab host for Honor’s College Four Year Research Experience Program, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, and Spring 2019.
- Lab host for NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate in Structural Biology students, Summer 2015, 2016, 2017.
- Lab host for a John Marshall High School minority senior with interest in Research. 2016-2017 academic year.
High School Biotechnology Students.
(Photo Courtesy of MNTC)
Working with the local high schools in the community is a great way to have a broader impact! From 2009 to 2019, Dr. Karr accomplished her broader impacts by creating more accessible ways for high school students in the Moore Norman Technology Center (MNTC) biotechnology program and college students to get the mentorship and training they need to succeed in their future professional careers. The MNTC is a career and educational training facility serving high school and adult students in the Moore and Norman, Oklahoma communities. Dr. Karr served as a Biotech Program advisory board member from 2009-2019.
MPBIO Biotechnology
Dr. Karr served on the Microbiology and Plant Biology Department Biotechnology Committee from 2014-2017. They have worked to introduce a biotech concentration for our Microbiology and Plant Biology career track. The committee was guided by a Board of Visitors comprised of former graduate and undergraduate students working in biotechnology. The committee is working to place students in summer internship and research programs in the region and across the country. Additionally, the committee organizes professional development workshops and career opportunity workshops for undergraduate and graduate students. Information on these events can be found on the department’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Integration of Teaching and Research
In her Practical Bioinformatics course, Dr. Karr utilized large-scale transcriptome datasets generated in her research program. Additionally, students perform bioinformatic analyses on proteins of focus in her research laboratory. These analyses include sequence identity, phylogenetic analysis, network analysis, and homology modeling.
When teaching her Molecular Biology course from 2008-2017, Dr. Karr incorporated the discussion of archaeal transcription, which is an area overlooked by many textbooks. The focus is on comparing and contrasting bacterial and eukaryotic transcription. Dr. Karr utilizes her research as the basis for discussing archaeal transcription regulation. She often works through the analysis of her data to introduce students to the techniques used to study transcription regulation and how to interpret the data from these techniques.
Outreach
- Life at the Extremes. Presentation to 6th-grade science classes at Whittier Middle School, Norman, OK. May 2018.
- Navigating the Sciences at OU. Presentation to Moore Norman Technology Center Biotechnology Program high school students. April 2015.
- Becoming a scientist. Presentation to 3rd-grade science classes at Trinity Lutheran School, Norman, OK. March 2014.
- Life at the extremes. Presentation to 1st-3rd-grade science classes at Trinity Lutheran School, Norman, OK. April 2012.
- Biology of Archaea. Presentation to Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology undergraduate summer course at OU. July 2011.
- Science in the Karr Lab. Presentation to Moore Norman Technology Center Biotechnology Program high school students. December 2010.
- Host to NSF Bridge to the Doctorate graduate student, 2009-2011.
- An Antarctic Adventure. Presentation to Pre-K class at St. Josephs Early Childhood Development Center, Norman, OK. November 2008.
- Become a Pen Pal with a Scientist in the Antarctic. 1st and 3rd-grade classes at Heath Elementary School, Paducah, KY. November/December 2001.
- An Antarctic Adventure with a Dutrow Alumnus. All grades at Dutrow Elementary School, Newport News, VA. November/December 2001.
For additional broader impact activities, visit our blog.
