Interdisciplinary Scientific Immersion Program for entering PhD students

STEM的研究生教育通常侧重于深入研究一个特定研究领域的细节。大多数研究生课程不包括向学员介绍其他STEM领域的机会，因为这会增加他们的培训时间。然而，结合学科的研究推动了许多令人兴奋的发现和创新，这些发现和创新往往会带来新技术和新产品。对于不同领域的科学家来说，能够沟通和合作，继续推动影响我们社会的创新和发展，这一点很重要。事实上，大多数机构提供广泛的STEM项目，可以将学员与其他学科的同行聚集在一起，并为我们的下一代研究人员创造新的合作和更广泛的科学思维之路。这项授予华盛顿大学的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新（IGE）奖将决定来自不同STEM学科的学生参与的短暂沉浸式体验是否会增强年轻科学家之间的跨学科交流、批判性思维和网络。学员还将培养团队合作技能，这对于在学术和非学术工作环境中取得成功的研究人员至关重要。研究结果将决定，与不同学科的学员在团队中进行短暂的沉浸式体验，是否能为他们做好跨学科研究和就业准备带来附加价值。该项目将使新的毕业生学员沉浸在跨学科的学习体验中，这种学习体验将模拟研究的协作性质，并可广泛应用于STEM项目。华盛顿大学拥有广泛的生物科学项目，这些项目将为新的研究生创造一个机会，在培养他们的社区意识和归属感的同时，努力培养关键的核心能力（批判性思维、团队合作、科学交流、职业准备），并在跨学科科学浸入式项目（ISIP）中建立广泛的同行网络。ISIP的总体目标是为提供以学科为重点的博士培训的机构提供促进跨学科知识和研究的框架。ISIP的教学方法是基于合作团队的学习，这种方法对所有学生的学习都有显著的优势，对于那些来自代表性不足背景的学生来说，收获最大。该计划将包括广泛的教师作为团队共同协调员，跨学科的学生团体将朝着一个共同的目标努力，这将允许不同的学习经验和跨学科的同伴网络。开发的程序将被转移到许多类型的STEM项目和机构。将使用的评估工具包括调查前和调查后的问题，这些问题涉及对以下方面的自信的自我评估：跨学科沟通技巧、基于文献的研究、假设的表达、写作具体目标、管理自我和他人。该项目对传统STEM博士课程的附加价值将在于积极促进新研究生的跨学科思维和交流，这将对许多人的论文工作和职业准备产生革命性的影响。研究生教育创新（IGE）项目专注于研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试点、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。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。

Graduate education in STEM typically focuses on diving deep into the details in one particular field of study. Most graduate programs’ curricula do not include opportunities to introduce trainees to other STEM fields because it would increase their time in training. However, research that combines disciplines drives much exciting discovery and innovation that often leads to new technologies and products. It is important for scientists in different fields to be able to communicate and work together to continue to drive the innovation and development that impacts our society. The fact that most institutions offer a wide array of STEM programs can be leveraged to bring trainees together with their peers in other disciplines and create a path to new collaborations and more breadth in scientific thinking with our next generation of researchers. This National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to Washington University will determine whether a short, immersive experience that involves students from different STEM disciplines will enhance the cross-discipline communication, critical thinking, and networking among young scientists. The trainees will also develop skills in teamwork that are crucial to success as a researcher in both academic and non-academic work settings. The results will determine whether short, immersive experiences with trainees in a variety of disciplines working in teams can have added value in preparing them for interdisciplinary research and the workforce.This project will immerse new graduate trainees in an interdisciplinary learning experience which models the collaborative nature of research and can be broadly utilized in STEM programs. Washington University has a breadth of bioscience programs that will be combined to create an opportunity for new graduate students to simultaneously develop their sense of community and belonging while working towards key core competencies (critical thinking, teamwork, scientific communication, career readiness) and establishing a wide network of peers in the Interdisciplinary Scientific Immersion Program (ISIP). The overarching goal of ISIP is to provide the framework to promote interdisciplinary knowledge and research at institutions that offer discipline-focused PhD training. The pedagogical method for ISIP is cooperative team-based learning, a methodology that has demonstrated significant advantages for learning for all students with the highest gains for those students from underrepresented backgrounds. The program will involve a wide range of faculty as team co-facilitators, and interdisciplinary student groups will work towards a common goal that will allow for varied learning experiences and cross-discipline peer networking. The developed program will be transferable to many types of STEM programs and institutions. The assessment tools that will be utilized include pre- and post- survey questions addressing self-assessment of confidence in: interdisciplinary communication skills, literature-based research, articulation of hypothesis, writing specific aims, and managing self and others. The added value of this program to traditional STEM PhD programs will be in actively promoting interdisciplinary thought and communication for new graduate students that will be transformative for many in both their thesis work and career readiness.The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.