Biology Summer Institute

Let us help you motivate your students to learn

Are you a high school educator teaching biology in Indiana? Would you like new innovative activities and experiments to enrich your students’ conceptual understanding of biology? We can help. Apply for the five-day Biology Summer Institute at the Indiana University Department of Biology.

**Slide 1:** Teachers participating in the BSI (Class of 2025) pose for a group photo inside of the Biology Building on IU Bloomington campus.

**Slide 2:** A BSI teacher and McKinlay lab graduate student shake sticky hands while testing a fun new classroom epidemiology module that uses a colorful bacteria and marshmallows.

Teachers pipetting Daphnia in the lab with Dr. Spencer Hall at Biology Summer Institute at IU Department of Biology. — **Slide 3:** Teachers at BSI pipette *Daphnia* in the lab with Professor Spencer Hall (center).

**Slide 4:** Teachers at BSI set up genetics experiments using fruit flies in the lab with Professor Andy Zelhof (left).

BSI teacher alumna shares her experiences with the new class of BSI teachers at Biology Summer Institute at IU Department of Biology. — **Slide 5:** A BSI teacher alumna shares her experiences with the new class of BSI teachers.

**Slide 6:** In the Fuqua lab, Dr. Gail Hardy and the BSI teachers examine petri plates with biofilms and sticky polysaccarides produced by a bacterial plant pathogen.

Dr. David Kehoe demonstrating experimental procedures with cyanobacteria during the Biology Summer Institute at the IU Department of Biology. — **Slide 7:** Professor David Kehoe demonstrates experimental procedures with cyanobacteria.

A teacher develops a research-based lesson plan for his high-school classroom using photoplankton and their responses to different wavelengths of light at the Biology Summer Institute at the IU Department of Biology. — **Slide 8:** A teacher at BSI develops a research-based lesson plan for his high-school classroom using photoplankton and their responses to different wavelengths of light.

Teachers having fun at the Biology Summer Institute at the IU Department of Biology. — **Slide 9:** Teachers at BSI work together to develop innovative lessons based on research while also having fun.

Discussion among teachers, Dr. Julia van Kessel, and graduate student Alyssa Ball during Biology Summer Institute at IU's Department of Biology. — **Slide 10:** Discussion among BSI teachers, Professor Julia van Kessel (second from left), and graduate student Alyssa Ball (center).

**Slide 11:** Dr. Erik Ragdale shows BSI teachers how to extract nematodes from the soil.

Teachers touring the IU Bloomington Light Microscopy Imaging Center and viewing the mitotic spindle with 3D glasses during the Biology Summer Institute. — **Slide 12:** Teachers tour the IU Bloomington Light Microscopy Imaging Center during BSI. Here they wear 3D glasses to view a mitotic spindle.

Biology Summer Institute

The Biology Summer Institute at Indiana University (BSI@IU) connects you and your students to ongoing research in our department, increasing students’ general understanding of biology. Simultaneously, the program provides you, as a teacher, with an opportunity to learn about the latest research in multiple biology research areas and to develop novel tools to motivate and educate your students. The program also offers you the chance to deepen your collaborations with individual IU Biology faculty, which could lead to further collaboration through National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Teachers (NSF RET) grants.

At BSI@IU, you and another high school teacher will join one research laboratory for a week where you will work directly with a faculty mentor and members of the mentor’s lab to develop hands-on activities to use in your classrooms. You will also meet other faculty members and learn about their ongoing research, tour our world-class facilities, and share the Bloomington campus experience with other teachers from Indiana. You will receive a stipend, supplies for your classroom, optional campus housing, and 40 hours of professional development credit that can be used for license renewal. No prior lab experience is necessary.

The details

When: June 8-12, 2026

Where: Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Stipend: $875

Tentative daily schedule:

9–10 a.m.	Participating faculty member will provide participants with an overview of his/her research and a lab tour.
10–10:30 a.m.	Discussion with faculty
10:30 a.m.–12 noon	Teachers will work with designated faculty members (2 teachers/faculty member) to discuss, prepare, and test their exercises/experiments.
12 noon–1 p.m.	Lunch
1–5 p.m.	Additional time to prepare exercises, test, and write-up of work as well as periodic facility tours

How to apply

Applications for the 2026 Biology Summer Institute closed on March 20, 2026.

Meet the faculty

Clay Fuqua

Molecular genetics of multicellular microbial interactions

Multicellular aggregate, or “rosette” of the bacterial plant pathogen *Agrobacterium tumefaciens*. The Fuqua lab discovered the molecular glue that cements the cells to each other and also to surfaces where they form biofilms – current studies are aimed at understanding the genetics and biochemistry of the glue with the long-term goal of developing a bioadhesive. Photo courtesy of Fuqua lab

David Kehoe

Microbial cell biology and environmental responses

Mirrors are used to reflect different colors of light onto beakers with samples of the widespread ocean bacterium *Synechococcus* during a study overseen by Kehoe. The study explained for the first time a key part of a process that allows *Synechococcus* to efficiently convert sunlight into oxygen. Photo courtesy of David Kehoe

Luke Nikolov

Plant developmental genetics

Diversity of floral form in Arabidopsis and its relatives as revealed by X-ray computed tomography. The Nikolov Lab combines genetic and genomic approaches to understand how flowers are built during development and how their structure changes as species diversify. Photo courtesy of Luke Nokolov

Erik Ragsdale

Developmental mechanisms and regulation

*Diplogastrellus* nematodes feed on dung microbes as part of a mutualism with dung beetles. Using nematode feeding structures as a model, the Ragsdale lab studies how local environments interact with genes to influence the development of functionally diverse traits. Photo courtesy of Erik Ragsdale

Julia van Kessel

Microbial cell biology and responses

‘Painting’ with bioluminescent Vibrio harveyi, the model organism for quorum sensing studies in Vibrio species: The glow from the plates spell out 'LuxR' and 'quorum sensing' and show a drawing of a Vibrio bacterium. — ‘Painting’ with bioluminescent *Vibrio harveyi*, the model organism for quorum sensing studies in Vibrio species. Quorum sensing controls expression of the bioluminescence genes in *V. harveyi*, which enables the cells to ‘glow in the dark’ when grown at high densities. Photo by van Kessel lab

Andy Zelhof

Genetics and development

Cross section of an adult Drosophila retina. The photoreceptors are in green and the rahbdomeres are in magenta. — Cross section of an adult *Drosophila* retina. The photoreceptors are in green and the rhabdomeres are in magenta. Image by Andy Zelhof

Questions?

Email us at bsi@iu.edu.

Banner image (top of page): Biology teachers participating in the Biology Summer Institute pipette Daphnia in the lab with Professor Spencer Hall (center).

Biology Summer Institute

Let us help you motivate your students to learn

Biology Summer Institute

The details

How to apply

Meet the faculty

Questions?

Department of Biology social media channels

The College of Arts & Sciences