RCN-UBE: Design to Data Network: expanding a faculty community of practice to broaden and diversify participation in undergraduate research

去年，随着一种全新的疫苗技术成功阻止了造成严重后果的COVID大流行，现代生物学的力量得到了惊人的体现。很明显，我们现在正生活在一个深刻的生物进步的时代，现在比以往任何时候都更需要一个庞大的、多样化的、熟练的以生物学为导向的劳动力。亲身体验科学的过程可能意味着STEM本科学生完成学位或辍学的区别。将本科生研究经历（UREs）整合到课堂中，可以让更多的学生获得这些好处。然而，对于教师来说，开发一个既与科学界相关又同时满足他们的课程需求的合适的研究项目往往是非常困难的。“从设计到数据”网络旨在使教师尽可能容易地将研究整合到他们的细胞、分子、遗传学、生物技术和生物化学课程中，特别是在学生群体非常多样化的机构中。该研究项目采用了一系列实验，这些实验高度代表了生物技术行业常见的尖端技术，参加这些课程的学生将获得提高STEM劳动力或研究生申请者竞争力的技能和知识。此外，该项目将考察教师网络成员的经验，以回答这样一个问题：在美国扩展这样的网络需要哪些必要的项目和专业发展组成部分。在阐明这些最佳实践的过程中，该网络将在资助期之后持续发展多年，并将向项目组织者分享建议，后者寻求将其他研究项目整合到本科课程中，以实现所有本科生都能亲身体验研究作为其教育的一部分的未来。“从设计到数据”网络的使命是使来自研究相关资源有限的机构的教师能够轻松地将研究整合到生物学课程中。为了实现这一目标，该网络将针对这一领域的已知障碍，通过与已建立的网络进行战略性连接，从而在网络中创建网络，通过不同的方式提供专业发展和构建指导机会，并通过在资助期间提供必要的实验室用品来确保便利和经济可行性。预期结果是参与的教师将成功地将设计到数据模块整合到他们的课堂中，学生将完成定义的研究里程碑：建立突变质粒库和向项目数据库提供酶功能数据，这是学生成功获得必要知识和技能的关键绩效指标。此外，教师对动机和挑战的看法将为网络结果提供深刻的、更细致入微的解释性理解。该项目将传播这些发现，使本科生物界的其他人能够简化他们开发的课程，以服务成千上万的未来学生，其中许多人来自历史上被排除在STEM之外的背景。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学理事会和本科教育司教育和人力资源理事会共同资助，作为其应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》（http://visionandchange/finalreport/）所提出的挑战的努力的一部分。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Within the last year the power of current biology was made strikingly apparent, with success of an entirely novel vaccine technology to halt the crippling COVID pandemic. It is clear that we are now living through an age of profound biological advancement and that a large, diverse, skilled biology-oriented workforce is needed now more than ever. Experiencing the process of science first-hand can mean the difference between an undergraduate STEM student completing their degree or dropping out. Integrating undergraduate research experiences (UREs), into classes makes it possible for many more students to glean these benefits. However, it is often prohibitively difficult for faculty to develop a suitable research project that is both relevant to the scientific community and simultaneously meets their curricular needs. The Design to Data network aims to make it as easy as possible for faculty to integrate research into their cell, molecular, genetics, biotechnology, and biochemistry courses, and particularly at institutions with very diverse student bodies. The research project engages a workflow of experiments that are highly representative of cutting-edge techniques common to the biotechnology industry and students who participate in these classes will gain skills and knowledge that increase competitiveness as STEM workforce members or graduate school applicants. Further, this project will examine the faculty network member experience to answer the question as to what essential programmatic and professional development components are necessary to expand such networks across the US. In elucidating these best practices, the network will grow sustainably for years beyond the funding period and will share recommendations for program organizers, who seek to integrate other research projects into undergraduate classes to realize a future where all undergraduates experience research first-hand as part of their education. The mission of the Design to Data network is to make integrating research into biology courses readily accessible for faculty from institutions with limited research-related resources. To accomplish this the network will target known barriers in this space through, strategically connecting with established networks thereby creating networks within networks, offering professional development through different modalities and structuring mentorship opportunities, and ensuring facile and economic feasibility by providing essential lab supplies for implementation during the funding period. The expected outcome is participating faculty members will successfully integrate the Design to Data modules into their classes and that students will complete defined research milestones: building the mutant plasmid library and contributing enzyme functionality data to the project’s database, which are key performative indicators that students have successfully gained the requisite knowledge and skills. Further, faculty perceptions regarding motivation and challenges will provide insightful, and more nuanced explanatory understanding of the network outcomes. The project will disseminate these findings to enable others in the undergraduate biology community to streamline the UREs they develop to serve thousands of future students, many of whom come from backgrounds historically excluded from STEM.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.