EAGER Germination Renewal: Cultivating Creativity in STEM Research through Mindfulness Training

非技术描述：来自威斯康星州大学（UW）-麦迪逊和弗吉尼亚大学（UVa）的多学科合作团队正在进行一项更新项目，以进一步调查，完善和评估最近在UW-麦迪逊为工程研究生试行的新学习框架的机构间实施。该框架以正念训练为基础，即冥想和其他冥想练习的指导。潜在的假设是双重的：1）正念训练将培养创造力，创新，智力冒险，利他主义和整体幸福感，2）这些特征将提高学员构思和追求解决社会挑战的新颖研究想法的能力。重要的是，由于工程和计算机科学研究生经常过渡到学术界，工业界和国家实验室的研究事业，他们将成为各自领域的下一代创新者，提高他们的创造能力将通过他们在短期内和职业生涯中产生的创新造福社会。正念训练也有可能有益于参与者的整体健康和情绪健康。技术描述：工程学院和威斯康星州（UW）-麦迪逊大学健康心灵中心正在与工程与应用科学学院和弗吉尼亚大学（UVa）的沉思科学中心合作，扩大最近进行的，NSF资助，一个新的正念训练学习框架的试点研究工程研究生。该框架旨在培养创造力，创新，智力冒险和利他主义-所有这些都是构思和进行专注于社会重大挑战的变革性工程研究的核心。向研究生介绍实践的理由是双重的。首先，最近的研究表明，正念冥想可以提高洞察力问题解决能力，减少认知僵化，对创造力产生积极影响，并增加同理心和同情心。这些联系进一步得到了关于正念神经科学机制的基础理论的支持。此外，正念冥想已被证明具有许多健康益处，包括情感和身体方面，包括减轻压力，因此有可能全面提高一个人的创造力和以社会为中心的创新能力。该更新项目的具体目标是根据试点研究的数据完善“通过正念培养变革性研究”培训计划，调查其对威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校更大的研究生群体的影响，并评估学习框架对UVa的可转移性。该项目预计将产生正念训练作为一个内在的可扩展和适应性强的学习框架，用于培训工程和计算机科学研究生的有效性的广泛证据，提高他们的能力和兴趣进行创新的社会为重点的变革性研究。

Non-Technical Description: A multidisciplinary collaborative team from the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison and the University of Virginia (UVa) is pursuing a renewal project to further investigate, refine, and evaluate inter-institutional implementation of a new learning framework recently piloted at UW-Madison for engineering graduate students. The framework is based on mindfulness training, i.e. instruction in meditation and other contemplative practices. The underlying hypothesis is two-fold: 1) mindfulness training will cultivate creativity, innovation, intellectual risk-taking, altruism, and overall well-being, and 2) these characteristics will enhance trainees' ability to conceive of and pursue novel research ideas that address societal challenges. Importantly, because engineering and computer science graduate students frequently transition to research careers in academia, industry and national laboratories where they will become the next generation of innovators in their field, enhancing their creative capacity will benefit society through the innovations they produce both in the short term and over the course of their careers. Mindfulness training also has the potential to benefit the participants' overall health and emotional well-being.Technical Description: The College of Engineering and the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison are partnering with the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia (UVa) to pursue an expansion of a recently conducted, NSF-funded, pilot study of a new mindfulness-training learning framework for engineering graduate students. The framework is intended to cultivate creativity, innovation, intellectual risk-taking, and altruism -- all of which are at the heart of conceiving and conducting transformative engineering research that focuses on societal grand challenges. The rationale for introducing graduate students to contemplative practices is two-fold. First, recent studies suggest that mindfulness meditation improves insight problem solving, reduces cognitive rigidity, and positively impacts creativity outcomes, as well as increasing empathy and compassion. These links are further supported by underlying theories about the neuroscientific mechanisms of mindfulness. Additionally, mindfulness meditation has been shown to have numerous health benefits, both emotional and physical, including reduced stress, and thus has the potential to holistically increase one's capacity for creativity and societally-focused innovation. The specific objective of this renewal project is to refine the "Cultivating Transformative Research Through Mindfulness" training program based on data from the pilot study, investigate its impact with a larger cohort of graduate students at UW-Madison, and assess transferability of the learning framework to UVa. The project is expected to yield extensive evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness training as an inherently scalable and adaptable learning framework for training engineering and computer science graduate students, enhancing their ability and interest to conduct innovative societally-focused transformative research.