PRISM: Attracting Students to Mathematics, Physics, and Biology Through Interdisciplinary Research and Discovery

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。智力价值：提议的活动起到双重作用，激发对数学和自然科学的热情，并培养领导者。所有活动的灵感都来自于发现数学如何提供了一种共同的语言和一个强大的工具包来理解当今广泛的相互关联的复杂现象的兴奋。在STEM学科研究的最前沿。我们通过让学生在本科阶段的早期阶段，将co - pi的研究专业知识与数学，物理和生物学领域的杰出研究人员的合作结合起来，创造了这种兴奋。通过让学生与这些研究人员和他们的研究生建立个人联系，并积极参与他们的研究活动，首先作为PRISM参与者，然后作为PRISM研究员，我们为学生提供了独特的机会，使他们能够走向研究领导，最终塑造他们自己选择的领域和职业。提案中的关键新综合举措包括：(a)利用成功的STEM大学先修课程（AP）外展计划的主动招聘；(b)夏季预习；(c)秋季和春季学期为一年级和二年级学生举办的跨学科研究研讨会（IDRS）， (d)为期两天的邀请研讨会——数学、物理和生物学的问题解决和探究导论，参与者约为100人，来自东北地区和波士顿地区的两年制和四年制大学的学生。(e)暑期探索体验——一个为期四周的跨学科密集项目，让学生解决问题和开放式探究。(f)与教师一起进行为期六个月的研究合作/实习，或在美国农业部老龄化中心、贝斯以色列女Deaconess医疗中心、微软、费米国家加速器实验室或哈佛医学中心生物医学信息学中心等组织担任校外职位。更广泛的影响：通过为期两天的研讨会，PRISM活动将延伸到东北以外的高中学生以及该地区的两年制和四年制大学。通过参加校外暑期探索体验的机会，PRISM项目的这一部分至少有可能在全国范围内传播，就像上述PRISM结果的传播一样。通过PRISM学生在邀请学生参与的学科会议上的演讲，我们的学生将对其他人产生影响，因为他们努力为校园中的学生提供早期研究机会。衡量这种影响的一个重要指标是，我们成功地将正在进行的城市高中推广项目与东北大学拟议的PRISM活动独特地无缝结合起来，吸引非裔美国人、西班牙裔和低收入家庭的学生学习数学和科学。总的来说，我们的PRISM计划旨在展示一个由各级学生和教师组成的社区的力量，以吸引学生学习数学和科学。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Intellectual Merit: The proposed activities serve the dual role to inspire passion in mathematics and the natural sciences and to create leaders. Inspiration in all proposed activities will stem from the excitement of discovering how mathematics provides both a common language and a powerful toolkit to understand a broad range of interrelated complex phenomena in today?s world that are at the forefront of research in STEM disciplines. We create this excitement by bringing students, at the earliest stages in their undergraduate years, the research expertise of the CO-PIs together with that of a collaboration of outstanding researchers in Mathematics, Physics, and Biology. By allowing the students to connect personally with these researchers and their graduate students as well as to participate actively in their research activities, first as PRISM participants and then as PRISM Fellows, we provide students the unique opportunity to move towards assuming research leadership that eventually shapes their own chosen fields and careers. Key new, integrated initiatives in the proposal include: (a) Proactive Recruitment that exploits successful STEM Advanced Placement (AP) outreach programs, (b) Summer Preview: Exploring Mathematics for first-year students, (c) Interdisciplinary Research Seminars (IDRS) for first- and second-year students during the Fall and Spring semesters, (d) A 2-Day Invitational Workshop---An Introduction to Problem Solving and Inquiry in Mathematics, Physics, and Biology for about 100 participants with teams of students from Northeastern and two-year and four-year colleges in the Boston area, (e) Summer Discovery Experience---an intensive four-week interdisciplinary program engaging students in problem solving and open-ended inquiry, and (f) a Six-Month Research Co-op/Internship with faculty or in positions offsite with organizations such as the US-USDA Center on Aging, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Microsoft, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the Harvard Medical Center being among the possibilities. Broader Impact: Through the 2-day Workshop, PRISM activities will reach beyond Northeastern to high school students in the STEM outreach programs described in section 1 below as well as two and four year colleges in the area. Through the opportunity to participate in the Summer Discovery Experience offsite, the reach for this piece of the PRISM program has the potential to be at least national in scope as does the dissemination of PRISM results described above. Through PRISM student presentations at discipline-based meetings that invite student participation, our students will have an impact on others as they work to include early research opportunities for students on their campus. An important measure of this impact will be our success to attract African-American, Hispanic, and low-income students to mathematics and sciences through the unique seamless integration of ongoing urban high-school outreach programs and the proposed PRISM activities at Northeastern University. Overall, our PRISM program aims to demonstrate the power of a community of students at all levels and faculty to attract students to mathematics and science and provide.