RaMP: The Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution (LAGNiAppE) to strengthen regional connections and broaden the STEM workforce

种族和少数民族、残疾人、退伍军人和第一代大学毕业生在STEM学科中的代表性严重不足。为了建设一支强大的多元文化和多样化的科研队伍，迫切需要通过制定培训途径来设计有效的干预措施，在关键培训节点，包括从本科生过渡到研究生院或STEM职业生涯，培养来自代表性不足群体的研究人员的人才。进化思维提供了一个使下一代科学家多样化的理想框架：它是联合所有生物科学的主要统一原则，对我们的生活具有明显和直接的影响。从流行病到气候变化，从灭绝危机到开创性的医疗治疗，从现代农业实践到法医，进化视角和框架对于应对当今人类面临的许多挑战至关重要。利用进化生物学的广泛重要性和路易斯安那州该学科的研究实力，路易斯安那州应用进化研究生网络(Lagniappe)将成立，以全面培训三批十名对提高他们在进化生物学方面的知识和研究技能感兴趣的学士后学者。通过Lagniappe，来自代表性不足群体的应届大学毕业生将与路易斯安那州立大学的导师和路易斯安那州另一所大学的共同导师一起参与一个为期一年的研究项目。该培训计划将通过提供高要求技术技能培训的研究项目和提供职业发展机会的结构化编程相结合的研究项目，为参与者为不同的STEM职业生涯做好准备。落后的培训计划包括一个指导框架，该框架将高影响力的教育实践与社区文化财富理论和社会认知职业理论相结合。培训方法包括多名导师，所有人都接受基于证据的导师培训；主要研究导师在路易斯安那州立大学工作，而联合导师是路易斯安那州其他机构的教职员工，包括三家少数族裔服务机构和五家以本科为主的机构。这种综合网络模式将加强资金不足的州的研究社区，并建立一个坚实的基础，通过这些基础，协作培训和研究可以持续到未来。除了进化生物学前沿的研究项目外，lagniappe计划还将穿插着关键的职业发展机会，包括研究训练营、州立公园的计划务虚会、职业圆桌会议和包容性卓越研讨会系列；领导这些活动的科学家形成了一个非正式的导师网络，供lagniappe学者使用。严格的项目评估将由在项目评估方面具有专业知识的社会科学家进行，由此产生的数据将有助于更多关于有效指导和实践的知识。来自Lagniappe项目的科学结果将阐明进化生物学中的关键问题，包括产生和维持生物多样性的过程，以及进化变化在塑造当代过程中的作用，如疾病爆发和对气候变化的反应。学者和他们的导师将通过同行评议的出版物和在SACNAS和Lagniappe会议上的演讲来传播研究成果。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, armed service veterans, and first-generation college graduates are critically underrepresented in STEM disciplines. To build a strong multicultural and diverse scientific research workforce, there is an acute need to design effective interventions via the development of training pathways that cultivate the talents of researchers from underrepresented groups at critical training junctures, including the transition from undergraduate student to graduate school or STEM careers. Evolutionary thinking presents an ideal framework through which to diversify the next generation of scientists: it is the primary unifying principle that unites all of the biological sciences, with obvious and immediate implications in our lives. From pandemics to climate change, extinction crises to pioneering medical treatments, modern agricultural practices to forensics, evolutionary perspectives and frameworks are essential to tackling many of the challenges humans face today. Leveraging the broad importance of evolutionary biology and the strength of research in the discipline across Louisiana, the Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution (LAGNiAppE) will be established to holistically train three cohorts of ten post-baccalaureate scholars interested in advancing their knowledge and research skills in evolutionary biology. Through LAGNiAppE, recent college graduates from underrepresented groups will engage in a year-long research project with a mentor based at LSU and a co-mentor from another Louisiana university. This training program will prepare participants for a diverse array of STEM careers via a combination of research projects that provide training in high-demand technical skills and structured programming that provides professional development opportunities.The LAGNiAppE training program includes a mentoring framework that integrates high-impact educational practices and the theories of community cultural wealth and social cognitive career theory. The training approach includes multiple mentors, all of whom receive evidence-based mentor training; primary research mentors are based at LSU, while co-mentors are faculty members at other Louisiana institutions, including three Minority Serving Institutions and five Primarily Undergraduate Institutions. This integrated network model will strengthen the research community across an underfunded state and establish a strong foundation through which collaborative training and research can continue into the future. In addition to research projects at the forefront of evolutionary biology, the LAGNiAppE program will be interspersed with key professional development opportunities, including a research bootcamp, a program retreat at a state park, career roundtables, and an inclusive excellence seminar series; the scientists leading these activities form an informal mentor network available to LAGNiAppE Scholars. Rigorous program assessment will be conducted by social scientists with expertise in program evaluation, and the resulting data will contribute to the larger body of knowledge regarding effective mentoring and practices. Scientific results from LAGNiAppE projects will shed light on pivotal questions in evolutionary biology, including processes generating and maintaining biological diversity, and the role of evolutionary change in shaping contemporary processes, such as disease outbreaks and responses to climate change. Research results will be disseminated by Scholars and their mentors via peer-reviewed publications and presentations at SACNAS and LAGNiAppE conferences.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.