Preparing STEM Technicians for Bioscience Data Acquisition and Analysis

应对健康、气候、能源和农业方面的全球挑战需要一支以知识为基础、以科学为驱动的高技能STEM员工队伍。台式多模式平板阅读器、数字成像仪和RNA/DNA测序仪产生的海量数据要求员工熟悉数据。生命科学公司的雇主正在寻找在实验室技能以及计算、数据分析和生物信息学方面拥有专业知识的员工。梅里特学院这个项目的目标是开发一个生物科学数据分析证书课程，为学生在应用生物科学研究中进行数据分析做好准备。该项目将培训STEM学生设计、建立和执行实验；操作和收集来自自动化设备的数据；以及对大型数据集进行数据分析。该项目将帮助填补生物科学、生物技术和生命科学管道中训练有素的人员，这些人员具有实验和数据分析技能，这些技能是行业所高度需要的。该项目将教育STEM技术人员在高通量和高含量设备上设计生物分析、测序和成像分析。学生将收集、清理和组织由此产生的大型数据集，并使用生物统计学、Excel、Tableau以及编程语言R和PYTHON进行数据分析。三个具体目标将指导该项目的工作。首先是开发一个新的生物科学计划，包括三门综合课程，以获得成就证书。第二是设计和实施支持该计划的物理和数字基础设施。第三，也是最后一点，是制定一项可持续的招聘和保留计划，以填补每一批新的学生，重点是增加注册和完成生物科学数据获取和分析技术员成就证书计划的人数。这项工作的成果将通过网站、社交媒体、行业咨询会议和会议在当地、区域和全国范围内传播。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了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。

Addressing global challenges in health, climate, energy, and agriculture requires a highly skilled STEM workforce that is knowledge-based and science-driven. Benchtop multimode plate readers, digital imagers, and RNA/DNA sequencers, generate enormous amounts of data requiring employees to be data literate. Life Science employers are looking for employees who have expertise in lab bench skills and in computing, data analysis, and bioinformatics. The goal of this project at Merritt College is to develop a Bioscience data analysis certificate program that will prepare students to perform data analysis in applied bioscience research. The program will train STEM students to design, set up and execute experiments; operate and collect data from automated equipment; and conduct data analysis of large data sets. This project will help fill the Bioscience, Biotechnology and Life Science pipelines with well-trained individuals with both experimental and data analysis skills that are in high demand by industry.This project will educate STEM technicians to design bioanalytical, sequencing, and imaging assays on High Throughput and High Content equipment. Students will collect, clean, and organize the resulting large data sets and conduct data analysis utilizing biostatistics, Excel, Tableau, and the programming languages R and Python. Three specific aims will guide the work of the project. First is to develop a new Bioscience program with three integrated courses leading to a Certificate of Achievement. Second is to design and implement physical and digital infrastructure to support the program. Third, and finally, is to put in place a sustainable recruitment and retention plan to fill each new cohort of students, with an emphasis on increasing the number of underrepresented minorities enrolling and completing the Bioscience Data Acquisition and Analysis Technician Certificate of Achievement program. The results of this work will be disseminated locally, regionally, and nationally through websites, social media, industry advisory meetings, and conferences. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.