Interdisciplinary Scientific Immersion Program for entering PhD students

STEM的研究生教育通常侧重于深入研究某个特定研究领域的细节。大多数研究生课程的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，往往导致新技术和新产品。重要的是，不同领域的科学家能够沟通和共同努力，继续推动影响我们社会的创新和发展。事实上，大多数机构提供了广泛的STEM项目，可以利用这些项目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一条新的合作和更广泛的科学思维的道路。这项授予华盛顿大学的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新奖（IGE）将决定一个涉及不同STEM学科学生的简短、身临其境的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，这对学术和非学术工作环境中的研究人员取得成功至关重要。研究结果将决定，在团队中与不同学科的受训者进行短暂的沉浸式体验，是否能为他们的跨学科研究和劳动力做好准备带来附加价值。该项目将使新毕业的受训者沉浸在跨学科的学习体验中，这种学习体验模拟了研究的协作性质，并可广泛用于STEM项目。华盛顿大学拥有广泛的生物科学课程，这些课程将结合起来，为新的研究生创造机会，同时培养他们的社区感和归属感，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），并在跨学科科学沉浸计划（ISIP）中建立广泛的同行网络。ISIP的总体目标是提供一个框架，以促进跨学科的知识和研究机构提供以学科为重点的博士培训。国际学校方案的教学方法是合作小组学习，这种方法已证明对所有学生的学习都有很大的好处，来自代表性不足背景的学生的收益最高。该计划将涉及广泛的教师作为团队共同主持人，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行网络。开发的程序将被转移到许多类型的STEM程序和机构。将使用的评估工具包括调查前和调查后的问题，涉及对以下方面的信心的自我评估：跨学科沟通技能、基于文献的研究、假设的表达、编写具体目标以及管理自我和他人。该计划的附加值，传统的STEM博士课程将积极促进跨学科的思想和沟通，为新的研究生，这将是许多在他们的论文工作和职业准备的变革。研究生教育创新（IGE）计划的重点是研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试验、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NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

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.