Undergraduate Readying for Burgeoning Research for American Indian Neuroscientists

本科生为美洲印第安人神经科学家的新兴研究做好准备

• 批准号: 10199069
• 负责人: ROBERTA EILEEN BRINTON
• 金额: $ 23.88万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10199069
• 关键词: Address; American Indians; Arizona; Awareness; Biomedical Research; Communities; Cultural Diversity; Development; Diagnosis; Diagnostic; Diné Nation; Disease; Distress; Education; Educational Curriculum; Elderly; Elements; Engineering; Equipment; Ethnic Origin; Event; Face; Faculty; General Population; Goals; Grant; Health; Health Professional; Institution; Instruction; Knowledge; Laboratories; Laboratory Research; Learning; Link; Mentorship; Methods; Minority; Modeling; Native Americans; Native-Born; Navajo; Nervous system structure; Neurologic; Neurosciences; Neurosciences Research; Outcome; Output; Patients; Physicians; Plant Roots; Population; Prevalence; Psyche structure; Research; Research Infrastructure; Research Personnel; Reservations; Resources; STEM career; STEM field; Science; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education; Scientist; Series; Site; Students; Surveys; Time; Training; Training Programs; Trust; Underrepresented Populations; United States; United States National Institutes of Health; Universities; base; brain health; career; college; community involvement; cultural competence; design; experience; graduate student; hands-on learning; health disparity; improved; institutional capacity; literacy; meetings; nervous system disorder; pedagogy; programs; remote location; skills; tribal college; undergraduate student; university student

The number of Native Americans (NA) entering the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce is the smallest proportion of any ethnicity. At the same time, this group faces tremendous health disparities, with many directly linked to brain health. Education in, and awareness of, neuroscience-related health issues in NA communities involves three inter-related challenges: lack of a workforce culturally attuned to NA communities, systemic lack of capacity for on-site biomedical research, and significant mistrust of western scientific research and researchers. The proposed programs focus on developing NA health professionals and academic researchers who possess both cultural competence and trust from their communities, elements critical to eliminating health disparities and minority representation in STEM fields. In addressing these challenges, we first recognize that many Native American students approach the world and the means to investigate it from fundamentally different philosophical perspectives. In contrast to highly reductionist Western models, traditional NA epistemological models are more holistic and narrative-based. Importantly, these models, in which animate and inanimate entities are connected and interdependent, should not be seen as pedagogic deficits, but rather as an innate strength that may allow these students to construct and expand upon sophisticated mental models of current scientific knowledge. Together with our partners at Diné College, we have developed an educational program that integrates established best pedagogical practices with neuroscience research learning experience. By integrating the holistic perspective of the Navajo culture with the scientific problem-based approach of neuroscience, we will advance and enrich both perspectives. The training program proposed herein is designed to create a pipeline of Navajo students to advance from Diné College to neuroscience programs at top tier research universities, creating a model of culturally grounded STEM education while bolstering NIH workforce and cultural diversity. We will accomplish this goal through a series of interrelated aims. Our first specific aim is to develop a cooperative training program between Diné College and the University of Arizona. Specifically, we will focus on developing the neuroscience literacy of Diné College Students, providing them with professional development opportunities and a sense of belonging within the academic community. Our second specific aim is to build Diné College’s institutional capacity to teach neuroscience methods and conduct independent scientific research. Our third specific aim is focused on re- establishing trust between the Diné Navajo and the neuroscience community through a series of engagements with Community Elders and neuroscience-focused public engagement events.

进入科学技术工程和数学 (STEM) 劳动力队伍的美洲原住民 (NA) 人数是所有种族中比例最小的。与此同时，这个群体面临着巨大的健康差异，其中许多差异与大脑健康直接相关。北美社区神经科学相关健康问题的教育和认识涉及三个相互关联的挑战：缺乏文化上适应北美社区的劳动力、系统性缺乏现场生物医学研究能力以及对西方科学研究和研究人员的严重不信任。拟议项目的重点是培养北美卫生专业人员和学术研究人员，他们既拥有文化能力，又受到社区的信任，这些因素对于消除健康差距和 STEM 领域的少数群体代表性至关重要。在应对这些挑战时，我们首先认识到许多美国原住民学生从根本不同的哲学角度看待世界以及研究世界的方法。与高度还原论的西方模型相比，传统的 NA 认识论模型更加整体和基于叙述。重要的是，这些模型，其中有生命和无生命的实体是相互联系和相互依赖的，不应被视为教学缺陷，而应被视为一种天生的力量，可以让这些学生构建和扩展当前科学知识的复杂心理模型。我们与迪内学院的合作伙伴一起开发了一个教育计划，将既定的最佳教学实践与神经科学研究学习经验相结合。通过将纳瓦霍文化的整体视角与神经科学的基于科学问题的方法相结合，我们将推进和丰富这两种视角。本文提出的培训计划旨在建立纳瓦霍学生从迪内学院升读顶级研究型大学神经科学项目的渠道，创建基于文化的 STEM 教育模式，同时支持 NIH 劳动力和文化多样性。我们将通过一系列相互关联的目标来实现这一目标。我们的第一个具体目标是在迪内学院和亚利桑那大学之间制定合作培训计划。具体来说，我们将专注于培养迪内大学生的神经科学素养，为他们提供专业发展机会和学术界的归属感。我们的第二个具体目标是建设迪内学院教授神经科学方法和开展独立科学研究的机构能力。我们的第三个具体目标是通过与社区长老的一系列接触和以神经科学为重点的公众参与活动，重新建立纳瓦霍族和神经科学界之间的信任。