RCN-UBE: Design to Data Network: expanding a faculty community of practice to broaden and diversify participation in undergraduate research

RCN-UBE：从设计到数据网络：扩大教师实践社区，以扩大和多样化本科生研究的参与

• 批准号: 2118138
• 负责人: Justin Siegel
• 金额: $ 22.13万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 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: 2021-09-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2118138&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; UBE; Design; Data; Network

Within the last year the power of current biology was made strikingly apparent, with success of an entirely novel vaccine technology to halt the crippling COVID pandemic. It is clear that we are now living through an age of profound biological advancement and that a large, diverse, skilled biology-oriented workforce is needed now more than ever. Experiencing the process of science first-hand can mean the difference between an undergraduate STEM student completing their degree or dropping out. Integrating undergraduate research experiences (UREs), into classes makes it possible for many more students to glean these benefits. However, it is often prohibitively difficult for faculty to develop a suitable research project that is both relevant to the scientific community and simultaneously meets their curricular needs. The Design to Data network aims to make it as easy as possible for faculty to integrate research into their cell, molecular, genetics, biotechnology, and biochemistry courses, and particularly at institutions with very diverse student bodies. The research project engages a workflow of experiments that are highly representative of cutting-edge techniques common to the biotechnology industry and students who participate in these classes will gain skills and knowledge that increase competitiveness as STEM workforce members or graduate school applicants. Further, this project will examine the faculty network member experience to answer the question as to what essential programmatic and professional development components are necessary to expand such networks across the US. In elucidating these best practices, the network will grow sustainably for years beyond the funding period and will share recommendations for program organizers, who seek to integrate other research projects into undergraduate classes to realize a future where all undergraduates experience research first-hand as part of their education. The mission of the Design to Data network is to make integrating research into biology courses readily accessible for faculty from institutions with limited research-related resources. To accomplish this the network will target known barriers in this space through, strategically connecting with established networks thereby creating networks within networks, offering professional development through different modalities and structuring mentorship opportunities, and ensuring facile and economic feasibility by providing essential lab supplies for implementation during the funding period. The expected outcome is participating faculty members will successfully integrate the Design to Data modules into their classes and that students will complete defined research milestones: building the mutant plasmid library and contributing enzyme functionality data to the project’s database, which are key performative indicators that students have successfully gained the requisite knowledge and skills. Further, faculty perceptions regarding motivation and challenges will provide insightful, and more nuanced explanatory understanding of the network outcomes. The project will disseminate these findings to enable others in the undergraduate biology community to streamline the UREs they develop to serve thousands of future students, many of whom come from backgrounds historically excluded from STEM.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).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.

在过去的一年里，随着一种全新的疫苗技术成功阻止了严重的COVID大流行，现代生物学的力量变得非常明显。很明显，我们现在正经历一个生物学深刻进步的时代，现在比以往任何时候都更需要一支庞大、多元化、熟练的生物学导向劳动力队伍。亲身体验科学的过程可能意味着本科STEM学生完成学位或辍学之间的差异。将本科生的研究经验（URES）融入课堂，使更多的学生能够获得这些好处。然而，教师往往难以开发一个合适的研究项目，既相关的科学界，同时满足他们的课程需求。设计到数据网络旨在使教师尽可能容易地将研究融入他们的细胞，分子，遗传学，生物技术和生物化学课程，特别是在学生群体非常多样化的机构。该研究项目涉及实验的工作流程，这些实验高度代表了生物技术行业常见的尖端技术，参加这些课程的学生将获得技能和知识，以提高STEM劳动力成员或研究生院申请者的竞争力。此外，该项目将研究教师网络成员的经验，以回答什么样的基本方案和专业发展的组成部分是必要的，以扩大这种网络在美国的问题。在阐明这些最佳实践，该网络将可持续发展多年超出资助期，并将分享建议的程序组织者，谁寻求将其他研究项目整合到本科课程，以实现未来，所有本科生的经验研究第一手作为他们的教育的一部分。 设计到数据网络的使命是使研究整合到生物学课程容易访问的教师从机构与有限的研究相关的资源。为了实现这一目标，该网络将通过与已建立的网络进行战略性连接，从而在网络中创建网络，通过不同的模式提供专业发展并构建导师机会，并通过在供资期间提供必要的实验室用品来确保简便和经济可行性，从而解决这一领域的已知障碍。预期的结果是参与的教师将成功地将设计到数据模块集成到他们的课堂上，学生将完成定义的研究里程碑：构建突变质粒库并将酶功能数据贡献给项目数据库，这是学生成功获得必要知识和技能的关键表现指标。此外，教师对动机和挑战的看法将提供有见地的，更细致入微的解释网络的结果的理解。该项目将传播这些发现，使本科生物学界的其他人能够简化他们开发的URES，以服务于数千名未来的学生，其中许多人来自历史上被排除在STEM之外的背景。本科生教育部，作为他们努力解决在本科生生物学教育的愿景和变化所带来的挑战的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange/finalreport/）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。