Recruiting and retaining underrepresented minorities in the plant sciences: A comprehensive approach

该项目的目标是制定一个多方面的办法，解决少数群体在植物科学领域代表性不足的问题，并增加他们对植物科学研究和教育的参与。该项目将扩大美国植物生物学家协会（ASPB）的自筹资金计划，包括ASPB年会的旅行奖励，参与和支付少数民族学生重点会议的最佳海报奖，以及多样性银行-ASPB创建的信息资源和匹配服务。与ASPB部门会议相关的区域会议将扩大，其中包括为少数族裔服务机构的学生和教师举办的有关教学、研究和学习的研讨会。总的来说，这些活动将鼓励和加强高等教育机构之间的互动和合作。这一点很重要，因为许多传统上代表性不足的学生进入科学研究生院，开始在大学接受高等教育，而这些大学的研究资源有限。这些机构通常资金不足，因此学生参与实践研究的机会较少，教师面临着发展协作互动的挑战，这些协作互动支持他们自己的专业发展，同时也为学生提供重要的网络连接。这些外展计划将针对历史上代表性不足的学生人数众多的机构，同时利用ASPB在该国许多最大的研究机构的强大现有影响力。该项目的成果将通过学会的网站和成员通讯以及通过理解干预会议传播。更广泛的影响：该项目的总体目标是发展伙伴关系，将不同类型的高等教育机构和专业学会的教学和研究结合起来。我们预计，这些互动将在参与的人员和机构之间产生新的协同作用，因此，该项目可以作为其他科学协会的一个模式，使更广泛的人参与科学。

The objectives of this project are to develop a multifaceted approach to address the underrepresentation of minorities in the plant sciences and to increase their participation in plant science research and education. This project will expand self-funded programs by the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), including travel awards to the ASPB annual conference, participation in and disbursement of best poster awards at minority student focused conferences, and the Diversity Bank - an information resource and matching service created by ASPB. Regional conferences affiliated with ASPB sectional meetings that will include workshops for students and faculty at minority-serving institutions on teaching, research, and learning will be expanded. Collectively, these activities will encourage and enhance interactions and collaborative efforts among institutions of higher education. This is important because many of the traditionally underrepresented students who go on to graduate schools in science begin their tertiary education at universities that have limited resources for conducting research. These institutions are usually underfunded, so students have fewer opportunities to engage in hands-on research, and faculty are challenged to develop collaborative interactions that support their own professional development while also providing important networking connections for their students. The outreach programs will be targeted to institutions with a significant enrollment of historically underrepresented students, while leveraging ASPB's strong existing presence at many of the country's largest research institutions. Results of this project will be disseminated via the society's Website and member newsletter, as well as through the Understanding Interventions Conference.Broader Impact: The overall goal of the project is to develop partnerships that will integrate teaching and research at different types of institutions of higher education and a professional society. We anticipate that these interactions will produce new synergies among the people and the institutions involved and, therefore, that this project may serve as a model for other scientific societies to engage a broader spectrum of people in science.