NSF Award
1649062
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. <br/><br/>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.
