Training in Biotechnology: Emphasis in Protein Chemistry

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The Washington State University Protein Biotechnology Program is an NIGMS-supported training program that prepares graduate students to translate fundamental scientific discoveries into biotechnological innovations. Our program includes 45 students and 45 faculty who represent five diverse graduate programs in four different colleges. This long-running collaboration provides interdisciplinary training to individual students and has resulted in strengthened curricular and physical connections between affiliated departments. Biotech program activities include inter-departmental rotations, supported industrial internships, courses on research practice and biotechnological entrepreneurship, monthly student Forums, student-organized annual research symposia, and research mentoring. To synergize existing capacity with additional dimensions of evaluation, we propose to add evaluation capacity focused on (a) student-centered, (b) formative, and (c) quantitative measurements. The goal is to use a balanced mix of evaluations to attain more complete information for steering specific program improvements and fulfilling student learning outcomes. Our plan describes new measurements for four specific learning outcomes: diversity, equity, and inclusion; faculty mentoring; effectiveness of program updates for building skills; and formative student check-ins to catalyze touchpoint experiences in the program. A team comprised of the Program Coordinator, the Program Director, and a Biotech faculty member will work with program participants to prioritize, create, and validate new evaluation tools. Literature-based tools, such as the Net Promoter concept and CIMER’s Assessment Platform, will be tapped to create new capacity. New evaluation tools will be created and optimized with collaborative instruction from Washington State University’s SESRC evaluation team, ensuring the creation of durable program expertise. Tools will be evaluated for effectiveness by comparisons with existing evaluations, longitudinal changes in new measures, and (for mentor training evaluation with the CIMER platform) comparisons with aggregate data from other implementations. Two Washington State University entities, the Provost’s Office and the Integrated Program for Biomedical Sciences, will make use of new tools to evaluate their programs, creating institutional impact for this funding. We will also publish tools and findings on our program website, present at NIGMS meetings, and (as warranted) publish. In particular, there is a need for more data on the use of the Net Promoter tool, typically a business concept, in academic settings. Following the grant funding period, institutional support exists, in the form of ongoing funding and sustained interactions with SESRC, to maintain and expand created expertise and methodologies.