Developing a Life Sciences Workforce with Strong Quantitative Skills

国家科学基金科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金(S-STEM)计划支持有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业。圣迈克尔学院的这个项目将为正在攻读生命科学学士学位的学生提供奖学金，同时主修或辅修数学、计算机科学或统计学。在其五年的资助期间，该项目将资助五个小组的20个奖学金，每组四名学生。理科毕业生拥有强大的数学和生物互补技能，是创新和推动美国生物科学经济的理想人选。该项目旨在整合计算和生命科学教育。毕业的学者将拥有生命科学事业所必需的计算技能，反过来，拥有支持需要计算方法的合作的科学背景。该项目预计将增加生命科学和计算科学专业主修、辅修和双专业结合的毕业生人数。这些努力旨在弥合计算科学和生命科学之间的“文化鸿沟”。该项目将招收来自不同群体的低收入学生，包括第一代、女性、农村和其他在STEM领域代表性不足的群体。该项目的毕业生将促进对劳动力的科学理解，并为美国STEM劳动力做出贡献。该项目将把成功的生命科学和计算密集型课程结合起来，开发有效的跨学科课程，培养具有强大生命科学和数学技能的毕业生。为了实现这些目标，它将提供学者充实座谈会、校友网络、会议旅行、实习和研究机会，并将支持教师建立跨学科联系。该项目预测，强化队列的活动将提高学生在科学和数学主修/辅修组合方面的留存。他们还预计，擅长数学的学生会比同龄人更多地选择从事以研究为基础的职业。项目研究人员将分析STEM专业的保留率、主修/辅修组合的数字，以及比较队列、其他STEM专业和非STEM专业对科学的态度的调查。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. This project at St. Michael's College will provide scholarships to students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in life sciences, in combination with a major or minor in mathematics, computer science, or statistics. Throughout its five years of funding, this project will fund 20 scholarships in five groups of four students. Science graduates with strong complementary mathematical and biological skills are ideally positioned to innovate and drive the United States bioscience economy. This project aims to integrate computational and life science education. The graduating Scholars will have computational skills essential for life science careers, and conversely, science backgrounds to support collaborations that require computational approaches. This project expects to increase the number of students graduating with majors, minors, and double major combinations from life sciences and computational sciences. These efforts aim to bridge the 'culture gap' between computational and life sciences. The project will recruit low income students from different groups, including first generation, female, rural, and other groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields. Graduates of this program are expected to advance scientific understanding in the workforce and to contribute to the U.S. STEM workforce. The project will crosslink successful life science and computationally intensive programs to develop effective interdisciplinary curricula that can educate graduates with strong life science and mathematical skills. To accomplish these goals, it will offer Scholars enrichment colloquia, alumni networking, conference travel, internships, and research opportunities, and will support faculty to build interdisciplinary connections. The project predicts that cohort-strengthening activities will enhance student retention in science and math major/minor combinations. They also expect that mathematically adept students will more often choose to pursue research-based careers than their peers. The project researchers will analyze retention rates in STEM majors, numbers in major/minor combinations, and surveys comparing attitudes towards science in the cohort, other STEM, and non-STEM majors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.