CI-TEAM Demonstration Project: A Cloud-enabled Evolutionary Genetics Learning Tool for Engaging the Net-Savvy Generation (POP!World)

纽约州立大学布法罗分校的这个团队正在开发POP！World，这是一个基于云基础设施的综合平台，用于种群遗传学和进化生物学的体验式学习、教育、培训和研究。种群遗传学是现代进化综合的基础之一。它使进化研究的所有领域都有了发现，并为预测进化事件的结果提供了工具。拟议的综合平台将支持广泛的工具，从从K-12到大学的简单学习到关于遗传结果的应用研究。该项目将解决传播与信息团队征集的主要目标--培养当代和未来一代的科学家、工程师和教育工作者，以设计和开发以及采用和部署基于网络的工具和环境，用于正式和非正式的研究和学习。POP！World的主要目标是利用网络基础设施的进步，提高各级学生对重要生物学概念的可及性。它旨在使广泛的用户能够使用网络支持的科学资源、工具和平台，从而为下一代科学家做好准备。在非正式环境中，该平台的功能将被用来激励K-12学生，并激发他们对STEM领域的兴趣。POP！World为当前流行的文本环境提供了一个极具吸引力的替代方案，这些环境无法吸引网络一代的受众。它也比目前可用的图形界面更注重数学，使其能够被用作基本的教学工具，并扩展到高等教育水平和合作研究平台。该项目的特色包括一个专业的教育和研究平台，用于高保真地模拟微进化过程(例如：选择、突变、迁徙、遗传漂移和非随机交配)。该工具包括交互式模拟，具有视觉吸引力的结果显示；状态面板，显示从输入和模拟过程中计算和导出的信息，学生评估模块，以及用于设置假设实验的研究组件。该项目是一个示范，展示了将新兴的云基础设施转变为多学科工具开发的实际挑战和解决方案。该工具将通过云机器镜像普遍访问，并将使用其计算能力在云上运行，从而不会限制用户机器。虽然该项目最初使用的是亚马逊的弹性计算云(EC2)和Google App Engine作为云主机，但该工具可以很容易地适应其他云环境。启用云功能允许轻松设置培训课程，并为POP！World的大规模传播提供真正可扩展的模式。该项目将使用开放源码软件开发，并将在GNU公共许可下作为开放源码提供。精通网络的学生不仅是流行音乐世界的用户，也是该工具设计和实施背后的创造性力量。我们计划开发POP！世界的主要组成部分，作为计算机科学与工程和生物信息学专业学生的顶峰项目。智力优势：该项目是来自计算机科学、工程和生物科学的研究人员之间的协同跨学科合作。PI拥有网格计算和数据密集型计算研究和教育以及工具开发方面的背景。她成功地实施了一项由NSF支持的数据密集型计算课程。她正在指导POP！World的设计和实现。合作个人将利用他们在种群遗传学、进化生物学和课程设计方面的丰富经验来指导该项目的理论和实践科学方面，并展示POP！WORLD？S在生物课程的入门和高级课程中的多种用途。这位外部顾问有着独特的背景，曾是一名屡获殊荣的社区大学教授，也是一家财富500强公司的退休项目经理。更广泛的影响：POP！WORLD项目展示了新兴的云基础设施对多学科协作和研究的影响。它展示了一种经济实惠且可有效适应的科学创新交付机制(即云)，使科学创新能够广泛普及，并将使各种组织能够高度利用该技术。预计这将使多种类型的参与者(学生、教育工作者、研究人员、成人学习者等)参与进来。POP！WORLD可以作为学习工具，吸引、留住和吸引各级和多个学科的网络一代劳动力。预计它将通过支持令人兴奋的视觉互动、涉及学习和研究的假设询问的实验，对提高我们精通科学和工程技术的员工的准备能力产生非常广泛的影响。结果将通过会议和讲习班向各级受众广泛传播。这支全由女性组成的调查团队具有真正不同的背景，他们深深地致力于指导、教育和培训。

This team at SUNY at Buffalo is developing POP!World, a cloud infrastructure-enabled comprehensive platform for experiential learning, education, training and research in population genetics and evolutionary biology. Population genetics is one of the foundations of the modern evolutionary synthesis. It enables discoveries in all areas of evolutionary study and provides tools for predicting the outcome of evolutionary events. The proposed integrated platform will support a wide range of tools from simple learning at the K-12 level up through college and on to applied research on genetic outcomes. This project will address the primary goal of the CI-TEAM solicitation ?Prepare current and future generations of scientists, engineers, and educators to design and develop as well as adopt and deploy cyber-based tools and environments for research and learning, both formal and informal?. The major goal of POP!World is to leverage the advances in cyber-infrastructure to improve accessibility of important biological concepts to students at all levels. It is designed to empower a broad spectrum of users with access to cyber-enabled scientific resources, tools and platforms, thus, preparing the next generation of scientists. In informal settings the features of this platform will be used to inspire K-12 students and kindle their interest in STEM areas. POP!World offers a highly engaging alternative to currently prevalent textual environments that fail to captivate net-generation audiences. It is also more mathematically focused than currently available graphical interfaces, allowing it to be used as a basic teaching tool and expanded to higher education levels and collaborative research platforms. Special features of the project include a professional education and research platform for high-fidelity simulations of microevolutionary processes (e.g.: selection, mutation, migration, genetic drift, and non random mating). The tool includes interactive simulation with visually appealing displays of outcomes; status panels displaying computed and derived information from the input and simulation process, student evaluation modules, and research components for setting up hypothetical experiments. The project is serving as a model to demonstrate the practical challenges and solutions in transforming the emerging cloud infrastructure to multi-disciplinary tool development. The tool will be universally accessible via the cloud machine images, and will run on the cloud using its computational capabilities thus not limiting the user machine. Although this project is initially using Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Google App Engine as cloud hosts, the tool can be easily adapted to other cloud environments. Cloud-enabling allows for easy set-up for training sessions and offers a truly scalable model for mass dissemination of POP!World. The project will be developed using open-source software and will itself be available as open-source under GNU public licensing. Cyber-savvy students will be not only the users of the POP!World but also be the creative force behind the design and implementation of the tool. We plan to develop major components of the POP!World as capstone projects for students majoring in Computer Science & Engineering and Bioinformatics. Intellectual Merit: The project is a synergistic inter-disciplinary collaboration among investigators from Computer Science & Engineering and Biological Sciences. The PI has background in grid-computing and data-intensive computing research and education and in tool building. She has successfully implemented an NSF-supported curriculum for data-intensive computing. She is guiding the design and implementation of POP!World. The co-PIs will are using their extensive experience in population genetics, evolutionary biology, and course design to guide the theoretical and practical science aspects of the project and demonstrate POP!World?s diverse use in introductory and advanced courses of the biology curriculum. The external consultant has a unique background as an award winning community college professor and a retired program manager of a Fortune 500 company. Broader Impact: The POP!World project showcases the impact of the emerging cloud-infrastructures on multi-disciplinary collaboration and research. It illustrates an affordable and effectively adaptable delivery mechanism (i.e. the cloud) for scientific innovations to a wide demographic, and will make the technology highly accessible to a variety of organizations. This is expected to engage a diverse population of many types of participants (students K-12, educators, researchers, adult learners, etc.). POP!World can be used as learning tool for attracting, retaining and engaging the net-generation workforce at all levels and in multiple disciplines. It is expected to have a very broad impact on improving the preparedness of our Sciences & Engineering tech-savvy workforce by supporting exciting visual interactions, experimentation involving "what if" inquiries for learning and research. Results will be disseminated widely through conferences and workshops to audiences at all levels. This all-female team of investigators with truly diverse background is deeply committed to mentoring, educating and training.