UA Environmental Health Transformative Research Undergrad Experience(EH TRUE)

 描述(由申请者提供)：亚利桑那大学(UA)环境健康科学转型研究本科体验(E-H-TRUE)研究教育项目将提供一个两年制的、高度整合的环境健康科学研究和教育培训计划，旨在通过亚利桑那大学两个国际公认的团体的综合专业知识，在五年内吸引、教育和留住40名在环境健康科学领域处于弱势地位的本科生。UA毒理学中心是世界上最著名的毒理学研究和培训中心之一，是由NIH资助的大型环境毒理学研究工作的所在地，其中包括NIEHS资助的西南环境健康科学中心(SWEHSC)和UA超级基金研究计划。在E-H-TRUE中，毒理学中心与UA本科生研究计划(UBRP)联手，该计划26年来一直是其他大学体验式本科生研究培训的典范。与高中和大一/大二本科生的早期接触将通过UBRP使用的现有网络进行协调，以确定有兴趣从事科学事业的具有不同背景的有才华的本科生。培训计划将为参与者提供准备和支持，使他们能够拥有激发攻读研究生学位的愿望的研究经验。教育部分将包括一个专门设计的环境健康科学专题讨论会课程，该课程将以亚利桑那州真实世界的毒物暴露情景为框架，探索毒物的来源、毒理学、流行病学、政府监管以及这些环境下的社区社会影响。学员还将接受实验室任务管理方面的实践培训。使用名为Trello(trello.com)的在线任务管理系统，学生将与导师合作定义假设和研究问题，将这些问题分解为单独的实验，并按顺序组织实验，指定截止日期，并有效地展示结果。在整个计划中，将强调网络和近乎同行的指导。近同行辅导将包括当前学员参与UA NIEHS T32培训补助金，该基金已连续资助了33年。E-H-TRUE计划将通过有组织的小组活动，分享他们的经验，以及通过SWEHSC的推广核心组织的有组织的环境健康科学社区推广活动，培养参与者的科学自我认同。E-H-TRUE将为这一潜在职业选择的参与者提供创新想法的支持。在新的社区外展方法中，参与者将在研究导师的陪同下访问参与者的家乡社区(家乡、部落社区)，讨论他们的研究以及他们与自己的社区的研究经验。为了使项目保持在正轨上并衡量影响，提案中详细介绍了一项形成性和总结性评价计划。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Arizona (UA) Environmental Health Sciences Transformative Research Undergraduate Experience (E-H-TRUE) research education program will deliver a two-year, highly integrated research and education training program in environmental health sciences, designed to engage, educate, and retain 40 undergraduate students underrepresented in environmental health sciences over five years through the combined expertise of two internationally recognized groups at UA. The UA Center for Toxicology, one of the preeminent toxicology research and training centers in the world, is home to a large NIH-funded research effort in environmental toxicology that includes the NIEHS-funded Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) and the UA Superfund Research Program. In E-H-TRUE, the Center for Toxicology joins forces with the UA Undergraduate Research Program (UBRP), which has served as a model for other universities in experiential undergraduate research training for more than 26 years. Early contact with high school and with freshman/sophomore undergraduates will be coordinated through existing networks used by UBRP to identify talented undergraduates from diverse backgrounds who are interested in pursuing science careers. The training program will provide participants with the preparation and support that will enable them to have the kinds of research experiences that ignite a desire to pursue graduate degrees. The educational component will include a specifically designed colloquium course in the environmental health sciences that will use as its framework, real-world toxicant exposure scenarios in Arizona, exploring the source, toxicology, epidemiology, government regulatory, and the community social impact in these settings. Participants will also receive practical training in laboratory task management. Using an online task management system called Trello (trello.com), students will work with mentors to define hypotheses and research questions, break those questions down to individual experiments, and organize the experiments sequentially, with due dates, and to effectively present results. Throughout the program, networking and near-peer mentoring will be emphasized. Near-peer mentoring will include participation from current trainees in the UA NIEHS T32 training grant, which has been continuously funded for 33 years. The E-H-TRUE program will nurture the development of a scientific self-identity in participants through organized group activities where their experiences can be shared, as well as in structured environmental health science community outreach activities, organized through the outreach core in SWEHSC. E-H-TRUE will build innovative ideas into its support for its participants in this potential career choice. In on novel community outreach approach, participants will be accompanied by research mentors on a visit to the participants' home communities (home town, tribal community) to discuss their research and their research experience with their own community. To keep the project on track and to measure impact, a plan for formative and summative evaluation is detailed in the proposal.