RCN-UBE Incubator: Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences for Students Underrepresented in Biology

这个项目的目标是为在生物学方面代表性不足的学生建立细胞遗传学和社会生物学方面的多方面的基于课程的本科研究经验。社区大学为美国近一半的本科生提供服务，包括许多少数族裔低收入、第一代和代表性不足的学生，这些学生中的许多人都在追求生物学的职业生涯。在这个快速变化的领域，重要的是社区学院的教职员工拥有最新的教材，反映生物学的最新发现和创新的数据分析方法。该网络将带来适当的教材，并提供专业发展，目标是将尖端生物学研究和高影响力的教学实践结合起来，以提高学生的成绩。增强社区学院教师的能力以提高学生的成功，将对科学技术劳动力的资质和多样性产生重大影响。这个项目将在爱德华·沃特斯学院进行，爱德华·沃特斯学院是佛罗里达州第一所独立高等教育机构，也是佛罗里达州第一所为非裔美国人教育设立的机构。DNA序列数据的广泛使用提高了对生物学的理解，给生物学教育工作者带来了独特的挑战。来自计算机和数据科学的技能已成为学生的核心能力，尽管许多生物学教师在没有有效从事这一领域所需的计算专业知识的情况下完成了正式培训。这个网络将把OMICS((蛋白质组学、转录组学、代谢组学))教育网络的成员聚集在一起，利用他们的联合专业知识来确定和管理常见的分析工具、相关的课程和评估材料以及教师培训战略，以促进OMICS教学的采用。通过使现有资源可供访问，该网络将使现有教师能够指导本科生参与真实的研究项目。这些工作将提高学生成为技术工作队伍的生产性成员、成功完成生物学和相关学科的毕业后学习以及成为更有见识的公民和决策者的能力。该网络将制定一套协商一致的审查资源和培训材料，通过单一门户网站分发给教育界，供本科生课堂使用。该网络还将推动兼职生物学教师的准备工作和未来初级教师的招聘，否则他们可能没有机会与全国各地的终身教员建立关系。该项目由生物科学局生物基础设施司和教育与人力资源局本科教育司共同资助，作为他们应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》中提出的挑战的努力的一部分(http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This奖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智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估被认为值得支持。

The goal of this project is to establish multi-faceted course-based undergraduate research experiences in cellular genetics and socio-biology for students underrepresented in biology. Community colleges serve almost half of the undergraduates in the U.S., including many minority low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented students, and many of these students are pursuing careers in biology. In this rapidly changing field, it is important that community college faculty have up-to-date teaching materials that reflect the most recent discoveries in biology and innovative data-analysis approaches. This network will bring appropriate teaching materials and offer professional development with the goal of incorporating cutting-edge biology research and high-impact teaching practices to improve student outcomes. Empowering community college faculty to increase student success will have a significant impact on the qualifications and diversity of the science and technology workforce. This project will take place at Edward Waters College, distinctively the state of Florida’s first independent institution of higher learning as well as Florida’s first institution established for the education of African Americans. The wide-spread use of DNA sequence data to enhance biological understanding, brings unique challenges for biology educators. Skills from computer and data sciences have become core competencies for students even though many biology faculty completed formal training without the computational expertise needed to effectively engage in this field. This network will bring together members of OMICS ((proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics)) education networks, leveraging their combined expertise to identify and curate common analysis tools, associated curricular and assessment materials, and faculty training strategies to facilitate the adoption of OMICS instruction. By making existing resources accessible, the network will enable current faculty to guide undergraduate biology students participating in authentic research projects. Such work will enhance the ability of students to become productive members of the technological work-force, to succeed in post-graduation studies in biology and related disciplines, and to be better informed citizens and decision makers. The network will develop a consensus set of vetted resources and training materials to be disseminated to the education community through a single web portal for use in undergraduate classrooms. The network will also advance preparation of adjunct biology faculty and recruitment of future junior faculty, who might not otherwise have the opportunity to build relationships with tenured faculty around the country. 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.