Targeted Infusion Project: Development of an Undergrad Bioinformatics and Biomathematics Track at Fisk University to Enhance Undergrad STEM Education, Research, and Future Careers

为了加强和扩大本科科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）跨学科教育和研究，菲斯克大学正在设计三门新的本科课程。生物数学I和II和生物信息学？在未来三年内提供给学生。美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的传统黑人学院和大学本科项目（HBCU-UP）为这些新课程注入了重点资金，在现有的数学、生物学和计算机科学STEM课程之间建立了一个新的接口。为了满足生物学学生对微积分的需求，生物数学课程侧重于与理解生物现象直接相关的主题，并向学生介绍使用相关数学理论进行生物现象的动手建模。同样，生物信息学课程向学生介绍当代生物学学科所必需的动手计算机科学和信息技术。学生将参与教师指导的暑期研究和专业发展活动，解决与三门课程所涵盖的主题直接相关的未解决的研究问题。该项目在菲斯克大学建立了一个强大的跨学科研究基地，并为生物科学的定量研究带来了新的认识。这些活动预计将增加学生对STEM相关领域的兴趣，吸引和增加本科生的保留率，以及学生在STEM学科的研究生学习方面的进步，并可能成为其他院校的可复制模式。

To enhance and expand undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) interdisciplinary education and research, Fisk University is designing three new undergraduate courses ? Biomathematics I and II and Bioinformatics ? to offer its students over the next three years. The infusion of focused funding from the National Science Foundation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) for these new courses creates a new interface between existing STEM courses in mathematics, biology and computer science. To meet the calculus need of biology students, the biomathematics courses focus on topics that have immediate relevance to understanding biological phenomena and introduce students to hands-on modeling of biological phenomena using relevant mathematical theory. Similarly, the bioinformatics course introduces students to hands-on computer science and information technologies essential for contemporary biology disciplines. Students will engage in faculty mentored summer research and professional development activities addressing unsolved research questions directly related to the topics covered in the three courses.This project establishes a strong interdisciplinary research base at Fisk University and brings a new awareness for quantitative research in biological sciences. The activities are expected to increase student interest in STEM-related fields, attract and increase retention at the undergraduate level and student progression in STEM disciplines to graduate studies, and serve as a possible replicable model for other institutions.