This proposal describes and will evaluate a new training supplement to Brooklyn College?s Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program, which supports the development of the academic, personal, and professional skills of UR students prior to entry to doctoral programs in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. It thus addresses our national need for increased diversity and inclusion in STEM. Although our program has been successful in preparing students to enter and complete PhD degrees in prestigious graduate programs, we are aware that there are additional training opportunities we need to offer our MARC Fellows to ready them for success at the doctoral level. Specifically, this project aims to address the computing skills gap between women and underrepresented minorities and their male majority counterparts as coding skills become increasingly necessary for successful biomedical research. We will also shore up students? understanding of basic statistical methods and research design, both directly connected with the validity and application of biomedical research results. Concerns about our program?s content were confirmed by polling recent MARC Fellows currently enrolled in doctoral programs, who emphasized the need for training in general computational tools for biomedical research applications as well as statistical analysis and research design, preparation that is not always done well in the typical content of undergraduate biomedically-related majors. The goal of our proposal is to use evidence-based pedagogical methods to develop and test a series of Guided Team Projects, on-line modules that are problem-based and require collaborations within small teams of MARC Fellows, organized in a scaffolded manner to become more complex and realistic as participants? skills increase. MARC Fellows will learn to how to use and apply computational methods in their own research as well as mastering the basics of elementary and inferential statistics and research design in the biomedical sciences using a range of coding tools and specific biomedical examples. The proposed interventions are based on sound theory and research on active, contextualized learning and employs innovative methods that the program staff has tested and found effective with UR students. Using what we have learned about on-line teaching with the abrupt onset of campus closings due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all proposed activities will be on-line. In the first iteration, the modules will be synchronous and taught in real time by doctoral-level program staff, while the presentations are preserved by video-capture for use in future asynchronous sessions. To continue the modules with only modest additional funding in the future, after testing and evaluation, facilitation will transition to a sustainable model of trained peer facilitators. The Guided Team Project method can be easily adapted for use with other content and diversity-focused programs in the future.
The development of more under-represented minority biomedical and behavioral scientists will have a beneficial impact on public health in the United States, as many pressing health problems are particularly acute among minority communities. Progress in improving such health issues will depend on developing a talented and diverse scientific research workforce, one which places a priority on helping diverse communities achieve positive health outcomes. This proposal will develop the research skills of under-represented undergraduate students aspiring to progress to become doctoral students who will subsequently diversify the biomedical and behavioral workforce when they receive their doctoral degrees.
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