REU Site: ASL-English Bilingual Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience Training and Research Experience (ASL-English Bilingual CENTRE)

ASL-English双语中心是一个为期八周的密集跨学科研究培训项目。本科受训者将接受与手语和耳聋相关主题的教育神经科学专家在认知神经科学和神经影像学方面的实践培训。这个跨学科的REU网站将通过提供高端的培训和研究经验，在研究精神和大脑的几种神经成像技术，促进科学的进步，所有这些都在一个完全无障碍的双语环境中进行。加劳德特大学的这种强化培训具有独特的优势，通过培训由于系统性语言障碍而在STEM领域代表性不足的聋哑和听力障碍学生，支持研究和科学的多样性。学校将在学生的早期教育培训中为他们量身定制，以最大限度地为他们未来的学术道路带来好处。该提案具有独特的潜力，可以塑造学生的学术选择，促进STEM的成功，并确保未来一代多样化的研究人员和科学领导者取得成功。ASL-English双语中心旨在为学生提供关键的早期研究经验，这将影响他们的学术和职业决策。在认知神经科学方面提供独特和支持性的培训，将提高受训者在本国机构获得更多研究经验的竞争力，增加他们选择stem相关课程的可能性，并培养一个同行和导师网络，这对留在学术界和研究领域至关重要。学员将获得最先进的神经成像技术的知识和培训，调查开创性的研究问题，体验研究实验室的日常进展，探索研究伦理，并参与职业发展活动。通过几个多日的研讨会，学生将接受四种神经成像技术的实践培训：fNIRS， fMRI， EEG和心理生理学。活动范围将从学习数据收集的实际方面到数据分析所需的基本技能。指导学生处理神经成像数据集。重要的是，在每个研讨会上，学生们将被引导进行与历史上被排除在外的人群（如聋人和听力障碍参与者）进行神经科学研究相关的伦理反思。在研习班之外，学生将通过在教育神经科学（PEN）博士项目的认知神经科学实验室之一的实践研究经验，进一步磨练他们的技能，为正在进行的研究活动做出贡献。他们的工作将在最后的科学报告中达到高潮。为了确保在学术上的持续成功，学生将在暑期学校期间和之后接受一名PI和一名同级研究生的个性化指导。最后，多亏了ASL-English双语中心，学生们将成为一个更大的研究人员网络的一部分，这些研究人员都是视觉语言和视觉学习（VL2）的成员，NSF科学学习中心，在一个完全无障碍的ASL-English双语环境中提供一个持久的同龄人网络。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。

The ASL-English Bilingual CENTRE is an eight-week intensive interdisciplinary research training program. Undergraduate trainees will receive hands-on training in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging from experts in educational neuroscience working on topics related to sign language and deafness. This interdisciplinary REU Site will promote the progress of science by providing high-end training and research experience in several neuroimaging techniques for investigating the mind and brain, all within a fully accessible bilingual ASL-English environment. This intensive training at Gallaudet University is uniquely positioned to support diversity in research and science by training Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students who are typically underrepresented in STEM fields due to systematic language barriers. The school will be tailored for students early in their educational training to maximize the benefit for their future academic paths. This proposal has the unique potential to shape students’ academic choices, promote success in STEM, and ensure success for tomorrow's generation of diverse researchers and leaders in science. The ASL-English Bilingual CENTRE aims to provide students with critical early-stage research experiences that will shape their academic and career decisions. Providing unique and supportive training in cognitive neuroscience will increase trainees' competitiveness in securing more research experience at their home institution, increase their likelihood of selecting STEM-related courses, and foster a peer and mentor network essential for retention in academia and research. Trainees will gain knowledge and training in state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques, investigate groundbreaking research questions, experience day-to-day progress in a research lab, explore research ethics, and participate in career-building activities. Through several multi-day workshops, students will receive hands-on training in four neuroimaging techniques: fNIRS, fMRI, EEG, and psychophysiology. Activities will range from learning the practical aspects of data collection to the basic skills needed for data analyses. Students will be guided in processing neuroimaging datasets. Importantly, along with each workshop, students will be guided through ethical reflections related to conducting research in neuroscience with historically excluded populations, such as Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing participants. Beyond the workshops, students will further hone their skills through hands-on research experience in one of the cognitive neuroscience labs in the Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience (PEN) Program by contributing to ongoing research activities. Their work will culminate in a final scientific presentation. To ensure continued success in academia, students will receive individualized mentoring from a PI and a peer graduate student during and beyond the summer school. Finally, thanks to the ASL-English Bilingual CENTRE, students will become part of a larger network of researchers, all members of the Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2), an NSF Science of Learning Center, providing an enduring network of peers within a fully accessible ASL-English bilingual environment.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.