Conference: Plant Biology 2019 PUI Faculty Development Workshop, San Jose, CA; August 3-7, 2019

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This award supports travel to the American Society of Plant Biologist's (ASPB's) annual Plant Biology 2019 conference for individuals associated with Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) attending a half-day workshop focused on designing undergraduate research projects to increase the probability of publication and a PUI career panel discussion. PUI faculty focus predominantly on undergraduate education and research, making significant contributions to science by generating knowledge in their fields while mentoring future researchers. PUIs are critical incubators of the next generation of scientists; students who attend institutions with a focus on undergraduate teaching and research are more likely to remain in a STEM major, compared to those at institutions with a greater emphasis on graduate programs. For underrepresented minority students, training programs that include combinations of research experience and mentorship have broadened participation in the STEM disciplines. However, scientists entering faculty careers at PUIs face a difficult transition from a research-intensive environment to a heavy teaching load, typically with the expectation of mentoring undergraduate research; limited funding; and few colleagues with similar research interests. ASPB and the Plant Biology conference provide important resources for plant biologists at PUIs to maintain connections with the broader scientific community. Although it is the travel awardees and those who attend the workshop and panel who will receive the most direct support from this funding, this professional development opportunity will provide far-reaching benefits to their undergraduate researchers, ASPB, and the federal agencies that support PUI research.Grant funding will support greater PUI faculty participation at Plant Biology 2019 through competitive travel grants and PUI-specific programing, including a career panel, half-day workshop, and section meeting. Despite 1/3 of PhD students and postdocs expressing a strong interest in PUI careers, scant attention is paid to mentoring pre- and early career PUI faculty, especially those from underrepresented minorities, toward establishing academic independence. The PUI career panel at Plant Biology 2019 addresses requests from graduate students and postdocs for information about career paths and opportunities at PUIs. Those attending the panel will have the opportunity to enter into one-on-one partnerships with experienced PUI faculty who will help those preparing for or beginning a PUI career. In addition, colleagues at R1 institutions will learn how to best support and advise graduate students and postdocs in their labs who are applying to PUI faculty positions. A specific challenge for faculty at PUI institutions is taking research conducted by multiple undergraduates (who are often involved with a project for a short duration), and piecing that work together into "publishable units". The PUI workshop will focus on designing undergraduate research projects with publication in mind and navigating the writing and publication process once the research is completed. Workshop participants will leave better equipped to take the knowledge generated in their labs and disseminate it through publications in their field. This will not only benefit those faculty members and their students, but also increase the rate and extent of dissemination of scientific knowledge. This award was co-funded by the Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Program and the Plant Genome Research Program in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems.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.