NSF Award
2321045
There is a growing recognition that the modern technical STEM workforce requires competence in computation, programming, data literacy, and more. While there is broad consensus that science curricula should teach computational and programming skills, achieving this goal can be difficult due to a lack of high-quality and available materials, time constraints in the existing curriculum, and lack of instructor expertise. This project will adopt a multifaceted approach to transform the molecular sciences research workforce by introducing programming, data, and computation in university curricula by developing high-quality, reusable, discipline-specific curricular materials that adopt advanced cyberinfrastructure skills and technology into the existing molecular sciences curricula. This proposal has three components: (1) A Faculty Fellows Program will provide training and mentorship for selected faculty developing curricular resources. (2) A library of well-vetted modular, reusable curricular resources developed by Faculty Fellows; and (3) Educator Training and support provided through professional development workshops and a professional learning community for science educators.<br/><br/>Programming, data, and computation have become essential skills for scientific research, but are often underdeveloped in early career scientists such as graduate students. This project develops a multifaceted approach that will transform the molecular sciences research workforce through early introduction of programming, data, and computation in university curricula. This program will broaden participation in the research workforce through faculty training and development targeted at educators serving underserved groups. Faculty training is central to this proposal - this project will provide professional development workshops aimed at faculty at minority-serving institutions (MSIs),and a longer-term Faculty Fellows program that will yield training materials that can be used across many institutions. Early integration of cyberinfrastructure (CI) skills into the university curriculum will ensure that students have core CI competencies as they begin scientific research, having a transformative effect on the nation's research workforce.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
