Integration of Informatics and Quantitative Concepts in Biology at UPR

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的目标是提高波多黎各大学皮德拉斯分校生物学专业本科生的定量和信息学技能。这与MARC U*STAR计划的目标一致，该计划旨在增加在STEM领域之一攻读研究生教育的少数民族学生的数量。美国国家研究委员会在其报告《BIO2010：为未来的研究生物学家转变本科教育》中指出，生物学专业的本科生需要接受更多定量和跨学科的教育。生物系根据这一建议和正在进行的全面课程修订，制定了若干策略来解决这一问题。本提案旨在将定量和信息学的概念和技能融入整个生物学课程。本科实验课程是有针对性的，因为它们提供了完美的环境，为我们的学生提供定量和跨学科的研究活动。此外，我们将通过描述新的跨学科课程来丰富我们的学术课程，让我们的学生为他们未来的学术或职业目标做好更好的准备。我们建议的具体目标是：

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to increase the quantitative and informatics skills of undergraduate Biology majors at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. It is aligned with the objective of the MARC U*STAR Program which is to increase the number of minority students that pursue graduate education in one of the STEM fields. The National Research Council in its report "BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists" identified the need for Biology majors to receive a more quantitative and interdisciplinary education as undergraduates. The Department of Biology, following this recommendation and an ongoing comprehensive curricular revision, has delineated several strategies to address this issue. This proposal aims to incorporate quantitative and informatics concepts and skills throughout the Biology curriculum. Undergraduate laboratory courses are being targeted as they provide the perfect environment to offer our students quantitative and interdisciplinary research-like activities. In addition, we will enrich our academic offerings by describing new interdisciplinary courses to allow our students to be better prepared for their future academic or professional goals. Our proposed specific aims are: (1) Design a course sequence that will promote the development of quantitative skills in biology majors. (2) Integration of quantitative and computational skills into Biology laboratory courses. (3) Increase the bioinformatics and interdisciplinary course offerings in the Biology Department. (4) Interdisciplinary training of faculty and support personnel. The proposed changes will be integrated into the Biology Department's ongoing comprehensive curricular revision as we expect that they will contribute to increase students' interest in biological research and significantly improve our student competitiveness, particularly of those who pursue graduate studies.