Biomedical workforce near-peer mentees support public education and participation in research

项目摘要 在华盛顿举行的第七届美国科学与工程节（USAEF）预计将吸引 2020年4月将有35万人免费参加为期2.5天的节日。这个节日的目的是增加公众的兴趣 在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）使用交互式展品。国家机构 卫生部（NIH）此前在2010年，2012年和2018年USAEF举办了展览摊位，以提高公众 了解生物医学研究。这些工作是与美国国立卫生研究院科学教育合作进行的 来自俄勒冈州和西弗吉尼亚州的合作伙伴奖（SEPA）获得者，他们带来了一项合作研究 展览专门用于翻译NIH资助的研究，以供公众理解和欣赏。这 提案要求提供4个月的行政补充，以扩展我们先前开发的合作， 利用我们独立的SEPA项目。具体来说，我们建议提供一个生活方式的公众教育， 一个解释DNA如何通过蛋白质的表达影响我们的健康行为的展览， 我们的身体功能的方式（例如，从味觉到保护细胞免受阳光伤害的皮肤黑色素 损坏）。USAEF与会者将能够匿名参加一个互动的NIH资助的研究 研究，告知他们自己的健康和生物医学研究的过程，同时贡献他们的 将匿名信息输入国家人口数据库，使学生和科学家能够研究 健康因素之间的关系。我们展览的一个新特点将是展示NIGMS资助的 各级学校的生物医学研究受训人员（即，高中，本科，研究生），谁会 在研究展览期间以及与学生互动时，相互提供近同行的指导 展览的与会者，谁构成USAEF与会者的最大部分。最终，这一合作 展览旨在提高公众对NIH资助的生物医学研究及其培训机会的认识， 一种互动和参与的方式。

PROJECT SUMMARY The 7th Annual USA Science and Engineering Festival (USASEF) in Washington D.C. is expecting to draw 350,000 people to the free, 2.5 day festival in April, 2020. The goal of the festival is to increase public interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using interactive exhibits. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) previously hosted exhibit booths at the 2010, 2012, and 2018 USASEFs to enhance public understanding of biomedical research. These efforts were in collaboration with NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) grantees from Oregon and West Virginia, who brought a collaborative research exhibit specifically designed to translate NIH-funded research for the public to understand and enjoy. This proposal requests a 4-month administrative supplement to extend our previously developed collaboration that leverages our independent SEPA projects. Specifically, we propose to provide a lifestyle public education exhibit that explains how DNA influences our health behaviors through the expression of proteins that shape the ways our bodies function (e.g., ranging from taste perception to skin melanin that protects cells from sun damage). USASEF attendees will be able to anonymously participate in an interactive NIH-funded research study that informs them about their own health and the process of biomedical research while contributing their anonymous information to a national population database, enabling students and scientists to study relationships between health factors. A new feature of our exhibit will be showcasing NIGMS-funded biomedical research trainees across levels of schooling (i.e., high school, undergraduate, graduate), who will offer near-peer mentorship of each other during the research exhibit as well as when interacting with student attendees of the exhibit, who comprise the largest fraction of USASEF attendees. Ultimately, this collaborative exhibit aims to increase public awareness of NIH-funded biomedical research and its training opportunities in an interactive and engaging way.