Toxicology Mentoring and Skills Development Training Program

 描述（由申请人提供）：NIMG R25计划的目标是支持教育活动，补充和/或加强劳动力的培训，以满足国家的生物医学，行为和临床研究需求。这种资助机会鼓励活动和推广计划，主要侧重于技能发展课程，结构化的辅导活动和推广计划，以创建一支高技能和多样化的劳动力队伍。毒理学专业面临的一个主要挑战是缺乏多元化的劳动力。尽管国家环境健康科学研究所多年来一直认识到这一问题，并确实试图通过不同的供资机制解决这一问题，但在毒理学专业中代表性不足的少数群体人数仍然少得令人不安。招收本科生进入毒理学研究生研究计划的缺点之一是缺乏本科毒理学培训计划在该国。毒理学从研究生阶段开始教授。由于缺乏对该学科及其在保护人类，动物和环境健康方面的作用的认识和知识，有兴趣攻读研究生教育的本科生自然不会考虑将其作为一种选择。位于爱荷华州艾姆斯的爱荷华州州立大学正在与位于阿拉巴马州塔斯基吉的塔斯基吉大学合作，创建一个为期一年的概念验证本科毒理学指导和技能开发培训计划。该方案有两个具体目标。具体目标1：开发和提供辅导计划，以最好的和最聪明的代表性不足的本科生就读于科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）。该计划每年将招募30名学员，并将他们与来自行业和政府的导师进行1：1的匹配。这将使学员接触到真实的世界经验。辅导将包括面对面的活动。具体目标#2：开发和提供由简短模块组成的在线课程。创新的灵活课程将在移动的设备上以及从计算机上访问，并将向公众开放24/7。这一独特的培训计划的预期成果包括：a）建立一个本科生谁将继续加入毒理学研究生课程，并最终劳动力的管道; B）因为通过该计划传授的技能适用于更广泛的生物医学，行为和临床研究企业，学生谁成功地完成这一计划将是一个资产在其他领域的研究兴趣，以美国国立卫生研究院;以及c）由简短单元组成的在线课程将向公众开放，这将是一个重要的外联方案。这是一个独特的，高度创新的指导和培训计划，可能会产生巨大的积极影响，创造一个管道，代表性不足的少数民族在STEM科目进入研究生院，并最终劳动力。未来的计划是扩大招生，并向其他历史上的黑人学院和大学、历史上的西班牙裔学院和大学以及历史上的奇卡诺和美洲土著大学开放该项目。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the NIMG R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation's biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs. This funding opportunity encourages activities and outreach programs with a primary focus on courses for skills development, structured mentoring activities, and outreach programs to create a highly skilled and diverse workforce. A major challenge facing the toxicology profession is a lack of a diversified workforce. Although the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has recognized this problem for many years and indeed has tried to address it through different funding mechanisms, the number of underrepresented minorities in the toxicology profession remains disappointingly low. One of the shortcomings of recruiting undergraduates into the toxicology graduate research programs is a lack of undergraduate toxicology training programs in the country. Toxicology is taught starting at graduate level. Because of lack of awareness and knowledge about the discipline and its role in the protection of human, animal, and environmental health, undergraduates with interest in pursuing graduate education naturally will not consider it as an option. Iowa State University in Ames, IA is collaborating with Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL to create a one-year long proof-of-concept undergraduate toxicology mentoring and skills development training program. There are two specific aims for the program. Specific Aim #1: Development and delivery of a mentoring program to the best and brightest underrepresented undergraduate students enrolled in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The program will recruit 30 mentees per year and match them 1:1 with mentors from industry and government. This will expose mentees to real world experiences. Mentoring will consist of face-to-face activities. Specific Aim #2: Development and delivery of an online course consisting of short modules. The innovative flexible course will be accessible on mobile devices as well as from computers and will be open to the public 24/7. Expected outcomes of this unique training program include: a) building a pipeline of undergraduate students who will go on to join toxicology research graduate programs, and ultimately the workforce; b) because skills imparted through this program apply to broader biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research enterprise, students who successfully complete this program will be an asset in other areas of research interest to the NIH; and c) the online course consisting of short modules, which will be open to the general public, will be a significant outreach program. This is a unique and highly innovative mentoring and training program that will likely have a huge positive impact of creating a pipeline of underrepresented minorities in STEM subjects entering graduate school and ultimately the workforce. A future plan is to expand enrolment and open up the program to other Historically Black Colleges and Universities, historically Hispanic colleges and universities and historically Chicano and Native American Universities.