Expansion, Curriculum Evolution, and Enhancement of Biotechnician Training

生物技术人员培训的扩展、课程演变和加强

• 批准号: 2100072
• 负责人: Kristy McGuire
• 金额: $ 60万
• 依托单位: Wistar Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-05-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100072&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Expansion; Curriculum; Evolution; Enhancement; Biotechnician

An urgent need exists for a highly trained, diverse life sciences research workforce to support the rapidly expanding U.S. biotechnology industry. To address this need, this award will enable Wistar Institute to entirely re-design an existing hands-on, mentored technician training program and expand it to additional community colleges. The project will provide students with research experiences required for employment as technicians in biomedical research. Students will participate in an accelerated, paid summer program that includes pre-apprenticeship training, a hands-on Orientation at Wistar, and two full-time mentored laboratory experiences. Program graduates will be prepared for immediate employment as laboratory technicians or for advanced training through Wistar’s Biomedical Research Technician Apprenticeship program. The project aims to engage a diverse and underrepresented student population in life sciences research, while offering a direct path to employment as a laboratory technician. The project will address the compelling need to prepare community college students who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic for employment in the skilled biotechnology workforce. This program can also serve as a model for other community colleges and scientific research partners.The project has three primary goals: 1) Expand to recruit more students, including those from new community college partners, while developing articulation agreements that make the project a credit-bearing experience; 2) Develop a novel project-based curriculum that more effectively engages students, especially those from underrepresented groups, in biotechnology research skills training; and 3) Redesign the existing two-summer program as a one-summer experience that includes full-time internships in both academic and industry labs. The project will use Wistar’s interactive trainee website to maintain data, measure student outcomes, track career development, and provide networking opportunities. The project will also compare participation and outcomes of students in Wistar’s existing two-summer program with those in the new one-summer option. The project plans to map specific skills and competency standards, as well as disseminate training models and materials. It is anticipated that the project can provide a blueprint for incorporating biotechnician pre-apprenticeship training into biotechnology and science curricula at community colleges, while serving as a model for regional program expansion. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.

迫切需要训练有素、多元化的生命科学研究队伍来支持快速扩张的美国生物技术行业。为了满足这一需求，该奖项将使 Wistar 研究所能够完全重新设计现有的实践指导技术人员培训计划，并将其扩展到其他社区学院。该项目将为学生提供成为生物医学研究技术人员所需的研究经验。学生将参加一个带薪暑期加速项目，其中包括学徒前培训、Wistar 的实践指导以及两次全职指导的实验室体验。项目毕业生将为立即就业为实验室技术员或通过 Wistar 的生物医学研究技术员学徒计划接受高级培训做好准备。该项目旨在让多元化且代表性不足的学生群体参与生命科学研究，同时提供成为实验室技术员的直接就业途径。该项目将满足为受 COVID-19 大流行影响不成比例的社区学院学生做好准备在熟练生物技术劳动力中就业的迫切需求。该项目还可以作为其他社区大学和科研合作伙伴的典范。该项目有三个主要目标：1）扩大招收更多学生，包括来自新社区大学合作伙伴的学生，同时制定衔接协议，使该项目成为一种学分体验； 2) 开发一种新颖的基于项目的课程，更有效地吸引学生，特别是来自代表性不足群体的学生，参与生物技术研究技能培训； 3) 将现有的两个暑期项目重新设计为一个暑期体验，其中包括学术和工业实验室的全职实习。该项目将使用 Wistar 的交互式实习生网站来维护数据、衡量学生成绩、跟踪职业发展并提供交流机会。该项目还将比较 Wistar 现有的两个夏季项目和新的一个夏季项目的学生参与情况和成果。 该项目计划制定具体技能和能力标准，并传播培训模型和材料。预计该项目可以为将生物技术员学徒前培训纳入社区学院的生物技术和科学课程提供蓝图，同时作为区域计划扩展的典范。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划重点关注推动国家经济发展的先进技术领域的技术人员教育。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。