Vincent Cobb

vcobb@mtsu.edu

George Murphy

Biology

Discipline specific equipment

WPS-300

New Technology

N/A

Class laboratories provide students with hands-on experiences that are difficult to have in the lecture setting. As a leading state university, it is imperative that we keep our laboratories equipped with modern and innovative technologies when possible. The health fields are continually undergoing change with new technologies, and anatomy and physiology laboratories are excellent opportunities for reaching students in these fields. All pre-nursing majors take the human-oriented BIOL 2010 and 2020, while other pre-professional health majors take the animal-oriented BIOL 3020/5020, 4180/5180, 4110, 6330. In the 2003-04 academic year approximately 1100 students enrolled in these courses. This proposal is for equipment that would provide students with laboratory experience in new technology that has revolutionized the practice of body imaging: digital radiography and thermal imaging. Digital radiographs can be immediately saved as .tiff or .jpg files and would allow students experience in identifying skeletal features of non-human subjects and preserved specimens as well as becoming familiar with the computerized direction of radiography. With thermal imaging (non-radiological), students could actually obtain thermal imges of structures for visualizing blood flow paterns near the heart or of animals to better understand thermoregulation in endothermic (e.g., rats) and ectothermic (e.g. snakes) animal.