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.

化学和生物学科学的研究工作大大受益于计算能力的快速增长以及广泛使用数据分析工具。 但是，这些方法的快速扩散使研究人员迫切需要，这些研究人员可以在研究工作流程中有效地纳入相关的计算工具和方法。 这是满足国家不断增长的材料，能源和健康需求的必要条件。 为了实现这一目标，入学的化学和生物科学学位课程的本科生通常会迈向入门计算机科学课程。但是，这些课程并不符合这些学生的需求，因此取得了不同的成功。 相比之下，最新的努力开发了与学位相关的计算课程，这些计算课程专门针对这些本科生，已成功扩大了计算方法的吸引力。 研讨会的目的是确定策略成功地将本科生的这个民众介绍给计算方法。 因此，该研讨会可能是促进美国人口科学和繁荣进步的关键一步。研讨会的参与者将包括领域专家，工业伙伴，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，以在熟悉的环境中介绍学生进行计算。这些课程将使用特定于学位课程的动手计算活动和基于项目的学习方法。 讲师将使用现有的计算工具和可视化技术来教学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规培训的学生，并帮助他们对计算产生欣赏。为了帮助这项努力，研讨会的与会者将努力制定一个通用标准，以计算生物学和化学学位课程中教授的主题，为这些课程的动手活动和研究项目提供框架，确定练习和策略，以促进这些课程不足的少数民族的招聘和保留这些课程，并确定对培训感兴趣的老师的培训手段，而这些教师的培训手段不得能够在计算方面受益。