Developmental Biology New York (DBNY) Conference

项目摘要/摘要 本科研究是体验式STEM教育的关键组成部分。最 大量的研究经验最终导致结果的交流，以更大的科学 和公共社区。大型科学会议的时间安排和令人生畏的规模， 然而，这往往阻碍了大学生充分参与。我们提议召开一次新的会议， 使本科生能够在一个欢迎包容的环境中展示他们的工作，同时保持 在大型会议上找到的网络、指导和职业发展资源。 我们地区的许多大学致力于本科研究，而且经常 将研究作为STEM课程的必要组成部分。若干会议 在春季学期是适合本科生充分参与，包括 区域斑马鱼和C. Elegans社区会议尽管研究是全年的 活动，有没有本科生友好的会议在我们地区在秋季学期。 为了满足这一需求，我们于2019年推出了DBNY（发育生物学纽约），并拥有更多 来自20个机构的100多名与会者。我们专注于发育生物学（广义定义） 作为“变化的生物学”）使我们能够吸引不同的参与者，同时保持 会议主题集中，规模最大化本科生的参与。 DBNY还提供了几个旨在加强下一代培训的功能 科学家们。首先，DBNY是免费的，消除了阻碍学生的主要障碍之一 参加会议。其次，DBNY非常注重STEM的职业准备。 因此，我们2019年会议中最受好评的方面之一是我们的职业小组， 来自我们地区的应届毕业生讨论了他们不同职业的轨迹。我们 我将在未来的会议中以职业小组为特色，并将增加额外的正式指导 活动第三，DBNY非常注重无障碍网络机会。我们的主讲 演讲者是目前的研究生，这使得本科生的榜样， 他们不久的将来。海报和演讲评委来自兴趣浓厚的教师， 本科教育经验。此外，我们还从众多的后勤部门寻求帮助， 本地研究生，并鼓励这些研究生从事本科生 在他们的演讲和海报展示中提问。最后，我们的一个指导 创建本次会议的原则是加强STEM教育的多样性和包容性; 因此，2019年我们的主题演讲人和大部分职业小组成员来自 在STEM中代表性不足的群体，我们将在未来的会议中继续这种做法。

Project Abstract/Summary Undergraduate research is a key component of experiential STEM education. The most substantial research experiences culminate in communication of results to the larger scientific and public communities. The timing and intimidating scale of large scientific conferences, however, often hinder full undergraduate participation. We propose a new conference that will enable undergraduates to present their work in a welcoming inclusive setting, while maintaining the resources for networking, mentorship, and career development found at larger conferences. Numerous colleges in our region are committed to undergraduate research, and often integrate research as a required component of their STEM curricula. Several conferences during Spring semester are appropriate for undergraduates to fully participate, including the regional zebrafish and C. elegans community meetings. Despite research being a year-round activity, there are no undergraduate-friendly conferences in our region during the Fall semester. To fill this need, we launched DBNY (Developmental Biology New York) in 2019, and had more than 100 attendees from 20 institutions. Our focus on Developmental Biology (broadly defined as “the biology of change”) allowed us to attract a diverse pool of participants, while keeping the conference thematically focused and at a size to maximize undergraduate participation. DBNY also offers several features designed to enhance the training of the next generation of scientists. First, DBNY is cost-free, eliminating one of the key barriers that prevent students from attending conferences. Second, DBNY has a strong focus on career preparation in STEM. Accordingly, one of the best-reviewed aspects of our 2019 conference was our career panel, in which recent graduates from our region discussed the trajectories of their diverse careers. We will feature the career panel in future conferences and will add additional formalized mentoring activities. Third, DBNY has a strong focus on accessible networking opportunities. Our keynote speaker is a current graduate student, which allows undergraduate students a role model for their near future. The poster and talk judges are drawn from faculty with strong interests and experiences in undergraduate education. Moreover, we enlist logistical help from numerous local graduate students, and encourage these graduate students to engage the undergraduates by asking questions during their talks and poster presentations. Finally, one of our guiding principles in creating this conference is to enhance diversity and inclusion in STEM education; accordingly, our keynote speaker and most of our career panel in 2019 were from underrepresented groups in STEM, and we will continue this practice in future conferences.