Cultivating a Sustainable Neuroscience Research-Intensive Community to Build Equity

以教师指导和“一对一研究学徒制”为基础的“多样性管道”“阻止泄漏”的策略缺乏可扩展性和可持续性，无法为足够数量的代表性不足的本科生提供服务，从而实现神经科学教授的平等。研究机会和教师指导的稀缺性对研究实验室的招聘、选择和保留有不同的影响；这些并不是弥补代表性不足的学生的缺陷的未满足需求的表现，而是对一种新的研究型教育模式的未满足需求。该计划的总体目标是创建一个自我维持的神经科学研究密集型社区：1)消除本科生研究机会的经济、制度和文化障碍；Ii)为研究生和博士后提供在学术界取得成功所需的专业领导技能；并且，iii)培养一个多样化的多层次的研究社区，致力于其成员的成功。通过将寻求研究机会的本科生和寻求领导机会的研究生组成的不同团队结合起来，德克萨斯农工大学大学城分校（Texas A&M University, College Station）一个代表性不足的教师团队用基于资产模型和领导力的团队模式取代了1对1的指导模式。在作为本科生物医学研究证书课程和研究生研究领导课程的5年实施中，该模式被证明是可扩展的、可持续的和包容性的。由此产生的基础设施在2019-2020学年为1200多名学生提供了支持，其中41%的学生人数不足。德克萨斯农工大学神经科学研究所（TAMIN）将利用这一经过验证的模式，通过追求三个具体目标来实现目标：1)建立一个以社区为基础的、大规模的神经科学本科生研究项目，开放TAMIN实验室的访问；2)创建一个神经科学研究领导计划，培养TAMIN实验室的研究生领导多样化的研究团队，并教授包容性的基于课程的本科生研究经验；3)创建一个神经科学研究主任项目，培养博士后学者领导不同的研究实验室，指导建立公平的研究教育项目。通过整合课程、研究经验和指导，重叠的基于领导力的项目跨越了将处于不同职业阶段的学者隔离开来的界限。结果将是一个代表性不足的本科生的有机过渡，他们还没有致力于研究事业，成为一名教职员工，领导各种研究实验室并管理研究教育项目。该提案的积极影响包括：a)一个多元化的社区，在5年后实现自我维持，每年培养至少3名博士后，36名研究生和144名本科生；B)整合招聘、指导、专业发展和从新生到教师的职业过渡的创新培训计划；c)赋予代表性不足的变革推动者权力，他们在全国范围内宣传创新的公平建设神经科学研究密集型社区。

Strategies to “stop leaks” from a “diversity pipeline” based on faculty mentoring and ‘1-on-1 research apprenticeship’ lack scalability and sustainability to serve sufficient numbers of underrepresented undergraduates to achieve equity in the Neuroscience professoriate. Scarcities in research opportunities and faculty mentoring has disparate impacts on recruitment, selection, and retention in research labs; these are not manifestations of an unmet need to remediate deficits of underrepresented students, but an unmet need for a new research education model. The overall objective of this program is to create a self-sustaining Neuroscience Research-Intensive Community that: i) removes economic, institutional, and cultural barriers to undergraduate research opportunities; ii) provides graduate students and postdocs the professional leadership skills needed to succeed in academia; and, iii) cultivates a diverse multi-level research community dedicated to the success of its members. By coupling diverse teams of undergraduates seeking research opportunities with graduate students seeking leadership opportunities, a team of underrepresented faculty at Texas A&M University, College Station replaced the 1-on-1 mentoring model with a team-based model based on asset models and leadership. Within 5 years of implementation as an undergraduate biomedical research certificate program and as a graduate research leadership program, the model proved to be scalable, sustainable, and inclusive. The resulting infrastructure supported more than 1,200 students in AY 2019-2020, 41% of whom were underrepresented. The Texas A&M Institute of Neurosciences (TAMIN) will leverage this proven model to achieve the objectives by pursuing three specific aims: 1) Structure a community-based, large-scale Neuroscience Undergraduate Research Program that unlocks access to TAMIN labs; 2) Create a Neuroscience Research Leadership Program to prepare graduate students in TAMIN labs to lead diverse research teams and teach inclusive course-based undergraduate research experiences; and 3) Create a Neuroscience Research Directors Program to prepare postdoctoral scholars to lead diverse research labs and direct research education programs that build equity. By integrating courses, research experiences, and mentoring, overlapping leadership-based programs cross boundaries which segregates scholars at different career stages. The result will be an organic transition of an underrepresented undergraduate, who has not yet committed to a research career, to a faculty member, who leads diverse research labs and administers research education programs. The positive impacts of this proposal include: a) a diverse community that becomes self-sustaining after 5 years and trains a cohort of at least 3 post- docs, 36 graduate students and 144 undergraduates per year; b) an innovative training program that integrates recruitment, mentoring, professional development, and career transition from freshman to faculty; and, c) the empowerment of underrepresented change agents who propagate an innovative equity-building Neuroscience Research-Intensive Community across the nation.