RaMP: The Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution (LAGNiAppE) to strengthen regional connections and broaden the STEM workforce

少数民族、残疾人、退伍军人和第一代大学毕业生在STEM学科中的代表性严重不足。为了建立一支强大的多元文化和多样化的科研队伍，迫切需要通过开发培训途径来设计有效的干预措施，这些途径可以在关键的培训环节培养来自代表性不足群体的研究人员的人才，包括从本科生过渡到研究生院或STEM职业。进化论思想提供了一个理想的框架，通过它可以使下一代科学家多样化：它是统一所有生物科学的主要统一原则，对我们的生活有着明显而直接的影响。从流行病到气候变化、灭绝危机到开创性的医疗方法、现代农业实践到法医学、进化观点和框架对于应对人类当今面临的许多挑战至关重要。利用进化生物学的广泛重要性和路易斯安那州学科研究的实力，路易斯安那州应用进化研究生网络（LAGNiAppE）将建立，以全面培训三组10名有兴趣提高他们在进化生物学方面的知识和研究技能的学士后学者。通过LAGNiAppE，来自代表性不足群体的应届大学毕业生将与路易斯安那州立大学的导师和路易斯安那州另一所大学的共同导师一起参与为期一年的研究项目。LAGNiAppE培训计划将通过提供高需求技术技能培训的研究项目和提供专业发展机会的结构化编程相结合，为参与者提供多样化的STEM职业生涯做好准备。LAGNiAppE培训计划包括一个指导框架，将高影响力的教育实践与社区文化财富和社会认知职业理论相结合。培训方法包括多个导师，所有人都接受循证导师培训;主要研究导师设在路易斯安那州立大学，而共同导师是其他路易斯安那州机构的教员，包括三个少数民族服务机构和五个小学本科院校。这种综合网络模式将加强整个资金不足的国家的研究界，并建立一个强大的基础，通过合作培训和研究可以继续到未来。除了在进化生物学的前沿研究项目，LAGNiAppE计划将穿插关键的专业发展机会，包括研究训练营，在州立公园，职业圆桌会议和包容性卓越研讨会系列的计划撤退;领导这些活动的科学家形成了一个非正式的导师网络提供给LAGNiAppE学者。严格的计划评估将由具有计划评估专业知识的社会科学家进行，所产生的数据将有助于更广泛的知识体系，涉及有效的指导和实践。LAGNiAppE项目的科学成果将揭示进化生物学中的关键问题，包括产生和维持生物多样性的过程，以及进化变化在塑造当代过程中的作用，如疾病爆发和应对气候变化。研究成果将由学者及其导师通过同行评议的出版物和SACNAS和LAGNiAppE会议上的演讲进行传播。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, armed service veterans, and first-generation college graduates are critically underrepresented in STEM disciplines. To build a strong multicultural and diverse scientific research workforce, there is an acute need to design effective interventions via the development of training pathways that cultivate the talents of researchers from underrepresented groups at critical training junctures, including the transition from undergraduate student to graduate school or STEM careers. Evolutionary thinking presents an ideal framework through which to diversify the next generation of scientists: it is the primary unifying principle that unites all of the biological sciences, with obvious and immediate implications in our lives. From pandemics to climate change, extinction crises to pioneering medical treatments, modern agricultural practices to forensics, evolutionary perspectives and frameworks are essential to tackling many of the challenges humans face today. Leveraging the broad importance of evolutionary biology and the strength of research in the discipline across Louisiana, the Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution (LAGNiAppE) will be established to holistically train three cohorts of ten post-baccalaureate scholars interested in advancing their knowledge and research skills in evolutionary biology. Through LAGNiAppE, recent college graduates from underrepresented groups will engage in a year-long research project with a mentor based at LSU and a co-mentor from another Louisiana university. This training program will prepare participants for a diverse array of STEM careers via a combination of research projects that provide training in high-demand technical skills and structured programming that provides professional development opportunities.The LAGNiAppE training program includes a mentoring framework that integrates high-impact educational practices and the theories of community cultural wealth and social cognitive career theory. The training approach includes multiple mentors, all of whom receive evidence-based mentor training; primary research mentors are based at LSU, while co-mentors are faculty members at other Louisiana institutions, including three Minority Serving Institutions and five Primarily Undergraduate Institutions. This integrated network model will strengthen the research community across an underfunded state and establish a strong foundation through which collaborative training and research can continue into the future. In addition to research projects at the forefront of evolutionary biology, the LAGNiAppE program will be interspersed with key professional development opportunities, including a research bootcamp, a program retreat at a state park, career roundtables, and an inclusive excellence seminar series; the scientists leading these activities form an informal mentor network available to LAGNiAppE Scholars. Rigorous program assessment will be conducted by social scientists with expertise in program evaluation, and the resulting data will contribute to the larger body of knowledge regarding effective mentoring and practices. Scientific results from LAGNiAppE projects will shed light on pivotal questions in evolutionary biology, including processes generating and maintaining biological diversity, and the role of evolutionary change in shaping contemporary processes, such as disease outbreaks and responses to climate change. Research results will be disseminated by Scholars and their mentors via peer-reviewed publications and presentations at SACNAS and LAGNiAppE conferences.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.