A group of Japanese students from the high school level to Ph.D. candidates will participate in a workshop, “Exploring the World through Education, Research, and Cultural Exchange,” at UALR Thursday to Saturday, April 28 to 30.

Dr. Olga Tarasenko, assistant professor of biology and an organizer of the USA-Japan BioNanoTox International Program, said the workshop will allow Japanese and American students to work together on joint research projects, analyzing data, preparing PowerPoint presentations, writing abstracts, and submitting their work to the sixth annual BioNanoTox and Applications International Research Conference in November.

“The workshop this week and subsequent post-workshop activities are intended for Japanese and American participants,” she said. “Participants have been instructed during pre-workshop activities at their home institutions in Japan and locally. The project will provide valuable experience fostering collaboration at various institutional levels.”

Linda Barker, the administrator for the TRIO Educational Talent Search that provides summer science activities for high school students in Little Rock, will mix and mingle with their Japanese counterparts at an opening reception.

“The plan is in the future for the high school summer science students will participate in future workshops with the Japanese students,” Barker said.

Other UALR students, including members of the Biology Club and BioNanoTox International, will work with the Japanese students on research projects organized by Tarasenko and Dr. Carl R. Stapleton, associate professor and director of the Environmental Health Science Program in the Department of Biology.

“We are offering two research projects: physio-chemical environmental monitoring and environment agent’s impact and biological methods of detection,” Tarasenko said.

Stapleton’s group will study water quality parameters using collected samples from Coleman Creek and test physio-chemical parameters of these samples. The research will be conducted from 8:45 to 10:55 a.m. Friday, April 29, at Coleman Creek and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Room 420 Fribourgh Hall. Tarasenko’s group will focus on biological parameters of immunity and protection from environmental factors. The research will be conducted from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Room 361 Science Laboratories Building.

Both UALR and Japanese participants will discuss education through research and culture. In addition to presentations by Stapleton and Tarasenko, Chuck Ufondu and Taneicie Sabb, the president and vice president of the UALR Biology Club; Mohamed Lahiani, president of the BioNanoTox International, and Kaleb Lee, a student from Little Rock Central High School, will speak.