UBM Institutional: Towards a Flexible and Extendable Scientific Undergraduate Experience (FEScUE): Blending Mathematics and the Life Sciences

该项目正在创建一个多部门的计划，使本科生和教师在数学，统计学和生命科学共同指导的跨学科研究集群和结构化的多学科课程。该计划的关键组成部分是基于该机构NSF-IGERT研究生PRIMES计划的教师参与者的经验。该计划是围绕积极参与学生的研究集群，其中包括由两名高级教师，每个从数学和生命科学指导四名学生。每个集群还包括一名初级教师，预计将领导未来的研究集群。该项目使用现有的入门级网关课程和一些先进的交叉列出的融合课程，从教师参与者之间的先前合作开发。主要的新的教学组成部分是两个研讨会课程，团队研究研讨会和支持跨学科科学研讨会。所有基于课堂的活动都是为了支持共同指导的研究经验。为了加强长期的专业发展，该机构还启动了重点职业咨询和GRE准备课程。智力优势：随着人们收集数据的能力超过了有效分析数据的能力，以及人们寻求在更大范围内理解现象，对结合数学和生命科学的跨学科研究的需求越来越迫切。最初，三个研究集群正在形成（生态学和进化，生物信息学和结构生物学），代表该机构研究的传统和新兴优势。初级教师在每个集群的列入提供了一个机制，扩大研究集群的范围，新的教师研究兴趣的出现。更广泛的影响：现代科学家面临的许多问题跨越多个传统知识领域。该项目为跨学科本科生研究和必须克服根深蒂固的学科界限的下一代科学家的教育提供了一个模板。该结构是基于现有的网关课程，两个新的研讨会，先进的融合课程，并重点未成年人，可以很容易地通过创建新的交叉上市的课程和新的未成年人作为跨学科研究的兴趣发展扩展。该项目正在积极参与全州各地的高中，并为该州一些最优秀和最聪明的学生提供机会。现有的联系和计划正在被用来鼓励传统上在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学科中代表性不足的人群的参与。它通过强调数学和统计学在现代科学奋进中的重要性，特别是在生命科学中的重要性，促进大学教师和学生之间的跨学科追求。它传递了本科学位不是学习过程的结束的概念，并鼓励本科生渴望进入研究生院和独立的研究生涯。

This project is creating a multi-departmental program that engages undergraduates and faculty in mathematics, statistics, and the life sciences in jointly mentored interdisciplinary research clusters and in structured multidisciplinary coursework. The key components of this initiative are based on the experience of the faculty participants in the NSF-IGERT graduate PRIMES program at the institution. This program is built around actively engaging students in research clusters that include four students mentored by two senior faculty members, one each from the mathematical and life sciences. Each cluster also includes a junior faculty member who is expected to lead a future research cluster. The project uses existing entry-level gateway courses and a number of advanced cross-listed fusion courses developed from prior collaborations among faculty participants. The major new instructional components are two seminar courses, a Team Research Seminar and a supporting Interdisciplinary Science Seminar. All classroom based activities serve to support the jointly mentored research experiences. To enhance long term professional development, the institution is also initiating focused career advising and GRE preparation courses. Intellectual Merit: The need for interdisciplinary research that combines the mathematical and life sciences is increasingly urgent as people's abilities to gather data outpace their ability to effectively analyze data, and as people seek to understand phenomena over ever wider ranges of scales. Initially, three research clusters are being formed (in Ecology and Evolution, Bioinformatics, and Structural Biology) representing traditional and emerging strengths in research at the institution. The inclusion of junior faculty in each cluster provides a mechanism for expanding the range of research clusters as new faculty research interests emerge. Broader Impact: Many questions facing the modern scientist span multiple traditional intellectual fields. The project is providing a template for interdisciplinary undergraduate research and the education of the next generation of scientists who must overcome entrenched disciplinary boundaries. The structure is based on existing gateway courses, two new seminars, advanced fusion courses, and focused minors that can be easily expanded through the creation of new cross-listed courses and new minors as interest in interdisciplinary research develops. The project is actively engaging high schools around the state and opening opportunities to some of the state's best and brightest students. Existing connections and programs are being used to encourage participation by populations traditionally underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. It is promoting interdisciplinary pursuits among university faculty and students by highlighting the importance of mathematics and statistics in the modern scientific endeavor and in the life sciences in particular. It is imparting the notion that the undergraduate degree is not the end of the learning process and encouraging undergraduate students to aspire to graduate school and to independent research careers.