Individuals with differing abilities have long been underrepresented in STEM fields. A continued challenge to inclusion is appropriate access as well as accommodations and a general lack of universal design in university, classroom, and laboratory spaces. Instructors play a crucial role in the long-term retention and success of students with differing abilities, including students from the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (D/HH) community. Given their direct impact on D/HH students' ability to succeed and receive a postsecondary degree, the goal of this study was to capture the experiences of STEM instructors at one public midwestern university and their understanding of the resources available to them. Through an anonymous survey, we collected data on STEM instructors' experiences with and understanding of teaching and interacting with D/HH students. The findings of this study support the claim that instructors are not aware of the needs of D/HH students, have limited experience with the D/HH community, feel unsupported in meeting the needs of D/ HH students, and do not have or know how to access adequate resources to best support their D/HH students. The first steps to invoke change are assessing the situation, creating awareness, and educating others. The long-term goals of this work are to build confident communities of educated advocates in STEM academia who are equipped with the knowledge and resources to best support their D/HH students.

It has been previously shown that zinc-finger transcription factor Gata3 has dynamic expression within the inner ear throughout embryonic development and is essential for cochlear neurosensory development. However, the temporal window to which Gata3 is required for the formation of the cochlear neurosensory epithelia remains unclear. To investigate the role of Gata3 on cochlear neurosensory development in the late prosensory stages, we used the Sox2-creERT2 mouse line to target and conditionally delete Gata3 at E11.5 before the cells have fully committed to a neurosensory fate. While the inner ears of Sox2-creERT2: Gata3 f/f mice appear morphologically normal, the sensory cells in the organ of Corti are partially lost and disorganized in a basal to apical gradient with the apex demonstrating the more severe phenotype. Additionally, spiral ganglion neurons display aberrant peripheral projections, such as increased distances between radial bundles and disorganization upon reaching the organ of Corti. Furthermore, heterozygous Sox2-creERT2: Gata3 f/+ mice show a reduced phenotype in comparison to the homozygous mutant, supporting the concept that Gata3 is not only required for proper formation at the later proneurosensory stage, but also that a specific level of Gata3 is required. Therefore, our studies confirm that Gata3 plays a time-sensitive and dose-dependent role in the development of sensory cells in the late proneurosensory stages.

It has previously been shown that the zinc-finger transcription factor Gata3 has dynamic expression within the inner ear throughout embryonic development and is essential for cochlear neurosensory development. However, the temporal window for which Gata3 is required for proper formation of the cochlear neurosensory epithelia remains unclear. To investigate the role of Gata3 in cochlear neurosensory development in the late prosensory stages, we used the Sox2-creERT2 mouse line to target and conditionally delete Gata3 at E11.5, a timepoint before cells have fully committed to a neurosensory fate. While the inner ears of Sox2-creERT2: Gata3 f/f mice appear normal with no gross structural defects, the sensory cells in the organ of Corti are partially lost and disorganized in an increasing severity from base to apex. Additionally, spiral ganglion neurons display aberrant peripheral projections, including increased distances between radial bundles and disorganization upon reaching the organ of Corti. Furthermore, heterozygous Sox2-creERT2: Gata3 f/+ mice show a reduced aberrant phenotype in comparison to the homozygous mutant, supporting the hypothesis that Gata3 is not only required for proper formation at the later proneurosensory stage, but also that a specific expression level of Gata3 is required. Therefore, this study provides evidence that Gata3 plays a time-sensitive and dose-dependent role in the development of sensory and neuronal cells in late proneurosensory stages.