NSF 2026: What Works in Workshops – Evolving Short-format Training to Serve Life Sciences STEM Professionals in the 21st Century

在综合活动办公室的NSF 2026基金项目的支持下，纽约冷泉港实验室DNA学习中心和乔治城大学医学中心正在举行一次会议，旨在提高生命科学研究人员、教育工作者和其他STEM专业人员（STEM劳动力）培训的可用性和质量。生命科学研究是高度跨学科的，依赖于其分支学科以及计算、统计、工程和数学的快速发展。然而，大学学位往往跟不上变化的步伐，因此生命科学STEM劳动力没有准备好使用和教授尖端方法和技术。为了应对这些挑战，这些劳动力通常依赖于短期培训，如训练营和讲习班，以获得或加强新需要的技能。短格式的培训有其优势，比如关注主题和易于获取，但研究表明，它通常不会导致长期的改变或成功使用新方法。当高质量的培训无法获得或无法包容时，STEM劳动力之间的差距可能会扩大。为期2.5天的会议是实施NSF 2026 Idea Machine“Reinventing Scientific Talent”Idea的第一步，汇集了国内外培训、教育和生命科学研究领域的专家，为短格式培训的转型制定蓝图并建立社区。改善生命科学领域的短期培训将促进为21世纪培养准备更充分、更具包容性的STEM劳动力。本次会议探讨了应用教育研究和专业发展的既定原则所面临的挑战，确定了研究机会，并定义了短格式培训的优势和劣势。会议组织者（代表了世界上最大的生命科学短格式培训项目）制定了一个讨论主题的大纲，以及一个确定参与者的过程，并将广泛的社区投入纳入最初的参与者。会议的成果包括相关的研究问题、经验教训，以及支持终身学习的建议，这些建议将适用于生命科学和其他STEM领域。最终，这些产出形成了一个改进蓝图，支持社区、组织和项目开发和提供短格式培训。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the NSF 2026 Fund Program in the Office of Integrated Activities, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center in New York and Georgetown University Medical Center are holding a conference on improving the availability and quality of training for life science researchers, educators, and other STEM professionals (STEM workforce). Life science research is highly interdisciplinary and relies on rapid advances happening across its sub-disciplines as well in computing, statistics, engineering, and mathematics. However, university degrees often fail to keep up with the pace of change and as a result the life science STEM workforce is unprepared to use and teach cutting edge methods and technologies. To address these challenges, this workforce often relies on short-format training such as bootcamps and workshops to acquire or reinforce newly required skills. Short-format training has advantages, like topical focus and ease of access, but studies show it often does not result in long-term change or successful use of new methods. Disparities among the STEM workforce can increase when high-quality training is not accessible or inclusive. The 2.5-day conference is an initial step in implementing the NSF 2026 Idea Machine “Reinventing Scientific Talent” Idea and brings together national and international experts on training, education, and life science research to develop a blueprint and build community for the transformation of short-format training. Improving short-format training in the life sciences will promote a better-prepared, and more inclusive, STEM workforce for the 21st Century. This conference explores challenges in applying established principles from education research and professional development, identifies research opportunities, and defines strengths and weaknesses in short-format training. The conference organizers (representing the largest life science short-format training programs world-wide) developed an outline of discussion topics, and a process for identifying participants and incorporating broad community input beyond the initial set of attendees. The output of the meeting includes relevant research questions, sets of lessons learned, and recommendations for supporting career-long learning that will be applicable in the life sciences and other STEM fields. Ultimately, these outputs form a blueprint for improvement that supports communities, organizations, and programs developing and delivering short-format training.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.