Advancing Computational Science at Minority Serving Institutions Workshop

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This proposal from Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) is requesting funds for a two day workshop for faculty and administrative leaders from US Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) who are committed to curricular reforms. The goal of this workshop is to enable MSI educators to bring computational and data-enabled science and engineering topics into undergraduate and graduate education and exchange best pedagogical practices.Although some strides have been made in integrating the computational science competencies required in this field into the university curriculum, the pace of change has been slow resulting in a critical shortage of sufficiently qualified students at both the baccalaureate and graduate levels. The problems of integrating computational science into the curriculum are particularly acute on the campuses of minority serving institutions (MSIs). Heavy teaching loads and the lack of local resources combined with the limited number of faculty with computational science expertise significantly slows efforts to modify the curriculum. Some institutions may lack the critical mass of faculty on their campuses to support this particular curricular reform effort. This workshop will provide an opportunity for the participating institutions to tackle curriculum reform issues and planning in a focused uninterrupted environment with expert facilitation. The workshop is designed to provide the participants with the tools and information necessary to articulate a strong business case for making curriculum changes; identify the resources and services that can be leveraged; create draft plans that can be submitted to their faculty council, provost and other bodies and committees that approve curriculum; and explore implementation collaborations.