Workshop: Broadening Participation in Chemical and Biological Computing at the Early Undergraduate Level

研讨会：扩大本科早期阶段对化学和生物计算的参与

• 批准号: 1649062
• 负责人: Dhruva Chakravorty
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of New Orleans
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-10-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1649062&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Workshop; Broadening; Participation; Chemical; Biological

Research efforts in the Chemical and Biological Sciences have significantly benefitted from the rapid growth of computational capacity and the extensive use of data-analytics tools. The rapid proliferation of these methods have, however, brought about an urgent need for researchers who can effectively incorporate field-relevant computational tools and methods in their research workflows. This is a necessity in order to meet the growing Materials, Energy and Health needs of the nation. Towards meeting this objective, undergraduate students enrolled in Chemical and Biological sciences degree programs are typically steered towards introductory Computer Science courses. These courses are, however, not geared towards the needs of these students and consequently meet with mixed success. In contrast, recent efforts to develop degree-relevant computational courses that specifically cater to these undergraduate students have successfully broadened the appeal of computational methods. The goal of the workshop is to identify strategies to successfully introduce this populace of undergraduate students to computational methods. As such, this workshop will likely be a critical step in promoting the progress of science and prosperity of the nation's population. Workshop attendees will include domain specialists, industrial partners, computer scientists, and education experts. The overall goal will be to provide a framework for undergraduate courses for Chemical and Biological Science degree programs that introduce the student to computing in a familiar environment. These courses will use hands-on computational activities and project based learning approaches that are specific to the degree programs. Instructors will use existing computational tools and visualization techniques to teach students how to solve domain-specific research problems in an intuitive manner. As such, this approach is likely to successfully engage students who lack a formal training in programming and help them develop an appreciation for computation. To help this effort, attendees at the workshop will work to develop a common standard for computing topics to be taught in Biology and Chemistry degree programs, provide frameworks for hands-on activities and research projects for these courses, identify practices and strategies to promote recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in these courses, and identify means to train interested instructors who may not have the benefit of a background in computational methods.

化学和生物科学领域的研究工作极大地受益于计算能力的快速增长和数据分析工具的广泛使用。 然而，这些方法的快速扩散迫切需要研究人员能够有效地将与领域相关的计算工具和方法纳入其研究工作流程。 为了满足国家不断增长的材料、能源和健康需求，这是必要的。 为了实现这一目标，就读化学和生物科学学位课程的本科生通常会学习计算机科学入门课程。然而，这些课程并未针对这些学生的需求，因此效果参差不齐。 相比之下，最近专门针对这些本科生开发与学位相关的计算课程的努力成功地扩大了计算方法的吸引力。 研讨会的目标是确定成功向本科生群体介绍计算方法的策略。 因此，这次研讨会可能是促进科学进步和国家人口繁荣的关键一步。研讨会参加者将包括领域专家、行业合作伙伴、计算机科学家和教育专家。总体目标是为化学和生物科学学位课程的本科课程提供一个框架，向学生介绍在熟悉的环境中进行计算。这些课程将使用特定于学位课程的实践计算活动和基于项目的学习方法。 教师将使用现有的计算工具和可视化技术来教学生如何以直观的方式解决特定领域的研究问题。因此，这种方法可能会成功吸引缺乏正式编程培训的学生，并帮助他们培养对计算的欣赏能力。为了帮助实现这一目标，研讨会的与会者将努力制定生物学和化学学位课程中教授的计算主题的通用标准，为这些课程的实践活动和研究项目提供框架，确定促进招聘的实践和策略并在这些课程中保留代表性不足的少数群体，并确定培训可能不具备计算方法背景的感兴趣教师的方法。