SOMAS: Support of Mentors and their Students in the Neurosciences

该项目旨在通过为本科生开发神经科学暑期研究项目，加强科学学生的招募和保留，其中初级教师和参与学生接受强化指导。教师们正在接受指导，以启动和维持在一个主要的本科院校的教学/研究事业。本科生在进行研究以及申请研究生院的步骤方面受到指导。研究伦理将是培训的核心特征。将参与者的经历编织在一起的主线是贯穿整个项目的密集指导。来自美国各地的青年教师被邀请提交申请，以获得夏季研究支持的本科生谁花10周的时间与教师共同感兴趣的项目合作。特别鼓励那些在拨款写作方面缺乏经验、刚刚开始研究项目的教员，以及那些来自为女性和少数群体服务的机构的教员申请，这些机构在科学领域的代表性不足。教师导师和他们的学生获得旅费支持，参加神经科学学会和本科生神经科学学院（FUN）的联合年会，在那里他们参加专业生存技能和道德研讨会，或其他旨在帮助教师发展赠款写作技能的研讨会。学生们在FUN与神经科学学会联合举办的海报会上展示他们的研究成果，并参加生存技能研讨会，为他们提供申请研究生院的建议，以及研究生入学后的期望。SOMAS计划旨在为传统上专注于本科生的其他暑期研究计划提供榜样。从长远来看，培养初级教师在主要的本科院校整合教学和研究，会扩大该计划的影响，因为它会影响SOMAS教师奖获得者的整个职业生涯。由于神经科学的跨学科性质，SOMAS计划有可能影响到主要本科院校的生物、心理学、化学、数学和计算机科学等广泛的部门。

This project aims to enhance the recruitment and retention of students in the sciences, by developing a summer research program in the neurosciences for undergraduate students wherein junior faculty members and participating students receive intensive mentoring. The faculty members are being mentored in launching and maintaining a teaching/research career at a predominantly undergraduate institution. The undergraduate students are being mentored in conducting research as well as the steps involved in applying to graduate school. Ethics in research will be central feature of the training. The thread weaving the experiences of the participants together is the intensive mentorship that will be provided throughout the project. Junior faculty from across the United States are invited to submit applications to obtain summer research support for undergraduate students who spend 10 weeks collaborating with the faculty member on projects of common interest. Faculty members with little experience in grant-writing and who are just beginning their research programs as well as those from institutions serving women and minority groups that are underrepresented in the sciences are particularly encouraged to apply. The faculty mentors and their students receive travel support to attend the joint Annual Meetings of the Society for Neuroscience and the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN), where they participate in the Professional Survival Skills and Ethics Workshop, or other workshops that seek to help faculty develop grant-writing skills. The students present their research findings at the FUN Poster Session held jointly with the Society for Neuroscience Meeting, and attend Survival Skills Workshop sessions that provide them with tips on applying to graduate school as well as what to expect after enrolling as a graduate student. The SOMAS Program aims to serve as a model for other summer research programs that have traditionally focused on the undergraduate student. In the long term, preparing junior faculty to integrate teaching and research at predominantly undergraduate institutions amplifies the impact of the program because it influences SOMAS Faculty Awardees throughout their careers. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the neurosciences, the SOMAS Program has the potential to influence departments as wide-ranging as biology, psychology, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science at predominantly undergraduate institutions.