Workshop: Broadening Participation in Chemical and Biological Computing at the Early Undergraduate Level

化学和生物科学的研究工作已经从计算能力的快速增长和数据分析工具的广泛使用中显著受益。然而，随着这些方法的迅速发展，研究人员迫切需要能够有效地将与领域相关的计算工具和方法纳入他们的研究工作流程。为了满足国家不断增长的材料、能源和健康需求，这是必要的。为了实现这一目标，化学和生物科学学位课程的本科生通常被引导到计算机科学入门课程。然而，这些课程并非针对这些学生的需要，因此成败参半。相比之下，最近专门为这些本科生开发的与学位相关的计算课程成功地扩大了计算方法的吸引力。研讨会的目标是确定策略，以成功地向这些本科生介绍计算方法。因此，这次研讨会可能是促进科学进步和国家人口繁荣的关键一步。研讨会的参加者将包括领域专家、工业合作伙伴、计算机科学家和教育专家。总体目标是为化学和生物科学学位课程的本科课程提供一个框架，使学生在熟悉的环境中了解计算机。这些课程将使用具体到学位课程的动手计算活动和基于项目的学习方法。教师将使用现有的计算工具和可视化技术，教学生如何以直观的方式解决特定领域的研究问题。因此，这种方法很可能成功地吸引那些缺乏正规编程训练的学生，并帮助他们培养对计算的欣赏。为了实现这一目标，研讨会的与会者将致力于为生物和化学学位课程中的计算主题制定一个共同标准，为这些课程的实践活动和研究项目提供框架，确定实践和策略，以促进这些课程中代表性不足的少数民族的招聘和保留，并确定培训可能没有计算方法背景的感兴趣的教师的方法。

Research efforts in the Chemical and Biological Sciences have significantly benefitted from the rapid growth of computational capacity and the extensive use of data-analytics tools. The rapid proliferation of these methods have, however, brought about an urgent need for researchers who can effectively incorporate field-relevant computational tools and methods in their research workflows. This is a necessity in order to meet the growing Materials, Energy and Health needs of the nation. Towards meeting this objective, undergraduate students enrolled in Chemical and Biological sciences degree programs are typically steered towards introductory Computer Science courses. These courses are, however, not geared towards the needs of these students and consequently meet with mixed success. In contrast, recent efforts to develop degree-relevant computational courses that specifically cater to these undergraduate students have successfully broadened the appeal of computational methods. The goal of the workshop is to identify strategies to successfully introduce this populace of undergraduate students to computational methods. As such, this workshop will likely be a critical step in promoting the progress of science and prosperity of the nation's population. Workshop attendees will include domain specialists, industrial partners, computer scientists, and education experts. The overall goal will be to provide a framework for undergraduate courses for Chemical and Biological Science degree programs that introduce the student to computing in a familiar environment. These courses will use hands-on computational activities and project based learning approaches that are specific to the degree programs. Instructors will use existing computational tools and visualization techniques to teach students how to solve domain-specific research problems in an intuitive manner. As such, this approach is likely to successfully engage students who lack a formal training in programming and help them develop an appreciation for computation. To help this effort, attendees at the workshop will work to develop a common standard for computing topics to be taught in Biology and Chemistry degree programs, provide frameworks for hands-on activities and research projects for these courses, identify practices and strategies to promote recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in these courses, and identify means to train interested instructors who may not have the benefit of a background in computational methods.