This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of an interdisciplinary graduate training program in Cognitive, Computational, and Systems Neuroscience at Washington University in Saint Louis. Understanding how the brain works under normal circumstances and how it fails are among the most important problems in science. The purpose of this program is to train a new generation of systems-level neuroscientists who will combine experimental and computational approaches from the fields of psychology, neurobiology, and engineering to study brain function in unique ways. Students will participate in a five-course core curriculum that provides a broad base of knowledge in each of the core disciplines, and culminates in a pair of highly integrative and interactive courses that emphasize critical thinking and analysis skills, as well as practical skills for developing interdisciplinary research projects. This program also includes workshops aimed at developing the personal and professional skills that students need to become successful independent investigators and educators, as well as outreach programs aimed at communicating the goals and promise of integrative neuroscience to the general public. This training program will be tightly coupled to a new research focus involving neuro-imaging in nonhuman primates. By building upon existing strengths at Washington University, this research and training initiative will provide critical new insights into how the non-invasive measurements of brain function that are available in humans (e.g. from functional MRI) are related to the underlying activity patterns in neuronal circuits of the brain. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kurt ThoroughmanGregory DeAngelisRandy BucknerSteven PetersenDora Angelaki
The National Science Festival Network project, also operating as the Science Festival Alliance, is designed to create a sustainable national network of science festivals that engages all facets of the general public in science learning. Science Festivals, clearly distinct from "science fairs", are community-wide activities engaging professional scientists and informal and K-12 educators targeting underrepresented segments of local communities historically underserved by formal or informal STEM educational activities. The initiative builds on previous work in other parts of the world (e.g. Europe, Australasia) and on recent efforts in the U.S. to create science festivals. The target audiences are families, children and youth ages 5-18, adults, professional scientists and educators in K-12 and informal science institutions, and underserved and underrepresented communities. Project partners include the MIT Museum in Cambridge, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The deliverables include annual science festivals in these four cities supported by year-round related activities for K-12 and informal audiences, a partnership network, a web portal, and two national conferences. Ten science festivals will be convened in total over the 3 years of the project, each reaching 15,000 to 60,000 participants per year. STEM content includes earth and space science, oceanography, biological/biomedical science, bioinformatics, and computer, behavioral, aeronautical, nanotechnology, environmental, and nuclear science. An independent evaluator will systematically assess audience participation and perceptions, level/types of science interest stimulated in target groups, growth of partnering support at individual sites, and increasing interactions between ISE and formal K-12 education. A variety of qualitative and quantitative assessments will be designed and utilized. The project has the potential to transform public communication and understanding of science and increase the numbers of youth interested in pursuing science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Loren ThompsonJeremy BabendureBen Wiehe
Science Club is an after school program created in partnership between Northwestern University and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago. Every week throughout the academic year, middle school youth (grades 5-8) work in small groups with their graduate student mentors on challenging, hands-on experiments. The six Science Club curricular modules cover topics ranging from biomedical engineering to food science, all with the goals of helping youth to 1) improve their understanding of the scientific method, 2) develop scientific habits of mind, and 3) increase their interest in STEM fields, particularly health-related careers. Science Club serves 60 youth every quarter with the help of 30 trained scientist mentors. Science Club meets three days a week at the Pedersen-McCormick Boys & Girls Club in Chicago, IL.
CENTC's (Center for Enabling New Technologies Through Catalysis) outreach is focused on partnerships with science centers. Initially we worked with the Pacific Science Center (PSC) to train our students in effective communication of science concepts to public audiences. Later we developed a short-term exhibit, Chemist - Catalysts for Change in the Portal to Current Research space. As part of the CCI/AISL partnership program, we partnered with Liberty Science Center to create an activity on a multi-touch media table, "Molecule Magic." We are currently developing another exhibit with PSC.
"Human +" is a collaboration among the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), NSF Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center (QoLT ERC) of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), and the Institute for Learning Innovation. The project will engage engineers, educators, designers, and people with disabilities in a process of participatory design to create a 2,500 square foot traveling exhibition entitled "Human +". The STEM content is engineering, specifically the extraordinary technological advances being made to enhance human abilities. The project is making three significant contributions to the Informal Science Education (ISE) field: 1) It is a model of close integration of an NSF-funded engineering research center into an ISE project. (2) It engages people with disabilities, both as participants and audiences. (3) It broadens engagement with engineering as a participatory, creative, and socially important ISE undertaking. Project deliverables are: (1) a model for participatory design of ISE activities to generate innovation among engineers, people with disabilities, ISE professionals, and designers; and 2) a 2,500 square-foot traveling exhibition engaging the public in the science, technology, and social issues of human enhancement. Front-end evaluation will be conducted by OMSI to explore pre-existing knowledge and attitudes, integrating significant numbers of people with disabilities including veterans, young people, and older people. Formative evaluation will likewise be integrated with the participatory design process, with prototypes being tested both by audiences and by the core "Human +" participatory design team. Summative evaluation by Institute for Learning Innovation will address both the effectiveness of the participatory design process and the effectiveness of the exhibition in addressing the National Academy for Engineering goals for public understanding of engineering as a creative and socially engaged field. An estimated 700,000 visitors will experience the "Human +" exhibition at OMSI and NYSCI. In addition, OMSI will tour the exhibition through its extensive and diverse network of science centers, with 24 science centers having expressed interest as potential host sites. The Science Friday webcast/podcast will reach an estimated 1.3 million listeners. Public audiences will engage in the topic of engineering and better understand its importance to human existence through experiencing one compelling research area. The project team will work with the Veterans Administration and DARPA to engage veterans with disabilities both as participants and as audiences. The exhibit with its human-focused content will also stimulate interest among older adults and promote the engineering field to groups underrepresented in engineering such as people with disabilities, girls, and minority youth. The project places cutting-edge technology and engineering practice in a profoundly personal context. "Human +" will contribute to the empowerment of the great majority of people who have, or will have, disabilities during their lifetime and for those of us who care for people with disabilities.
WGBH is requesting funds to produce a four-hour NOVA television special with accompanying Web and outreach activities about the pervasive role of materials in our lives. The overarching goals of the project are to: 1) enhance public engagement in and understanding of materials science, including appreciation of its effects on society; 2) promote collaboration among educators, scientists and community-based organizations to reach a broad audience; and 3) create effective methods of expanding informal science learning that can be evaluated for their lasting impact on the field. The mini-series, "STUFF: The Materials that Shape our World," will offer an appreciation of the human and scientific factors that drive innovation in materials science, from ancient breakthroughs to today's explosion of biological and nanomaterials. The four episodes, themed around "Stronger," "Smaller," "Smarter" and "Cleaner" will provide a clear focus on the interdisciplinary nature of materials science and showcase dramatic stories of past inventions and exciting new discoveries. The NOVA team in association with the Materials Research Society (MRS) will produce the series. The "STUFF" series is anticipated to be broadcast on PBS in the fall of 2008. WGBH and MRS will work with local PBS stations to train local scientists in public outreach. Multimedia Research will conduct formative evaluation of the project components, and Goodman Research Group will conduct summative evaluation of both the series and the outreach efforts.
The investigators plan to design, develop and test a series of exhibit prototypes that build visitors' capacity to engage in discussions of socio-scientific issues, particularly those related to the numerous human-biology and health-related socio-scientific issues present in their lives today. The purpose of this small-scale project will be to explore the feasibility of designing un-facilitated museum exhibit experiences that engage museum visitors in activities where they recognize the components of socio-scientific arguments, evaluate them, and pose arguments of their own. The exhibit will use techniques of interactive exhibits usually applied in science museums to explore objects, phenomena, or scientific and engineering processes but the subject of this exhibit is about words and talk rather than things and physical phenomena. It is intended to give visitors practice in science thinking skills that citizens can use in listening critically, assessing arguments, and framing arguments of their own. This project will support the design, development, and testing of six unfacilitated activities that engage visitors in deconstructing, evaluating, and developing arguments related to socio-scientific issues. The investigators will develop prototypes so that labels, content, and physical design can be changed during the course of formative testing. The prototypes will be developed by members of the Museum of Science Education and Strategic Projects Departments. This project is intended to gather evidence through evaluation about whether an unstaffed exhibit can be designed to increase visitors\' capacity to engage in discussions of socio-scientific issues and health-related socio-scientific issues. The Museum of Science Research and Evaluation Department will conduct the formative evaluation of these prototypes. It will provide new evidence about the ability of museum exhibits to increase the scientific thinking skills of visitors.
WGBH is producing the fifth and sixth seasons of NOVA scienceNOW, a multimedia project that addresses a wide array of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects via multiple platforms. They include national PBS broadcast, the PBS web site, and innovative outreach activities such as an expanded Science Café initiative. Hosted by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Season Five will air in 2010; Season Six in 2011. The focus is "stories of transformative research," e.g., nanotechnology, stem cells, quantum computing, as well as clean energy, and climate change. Project goals are to "produce a lasting impact on Americans' appreciation for and understanding of current scientific research," and to encourage an interest in STEM careers among younger viewers. Building upon solid prior work, the proposed project is finding new ways to interweave the television show, web materials, and Science Cafés to provide multiple entry points and pathways for the audience. For example, they will produce 32 web-only scientist profiles supported by a blog and social media tools, and then train these scientists as presenters for the Science Cafés. NOVA is planning a new strategy to maximize carriage and increase audience for the six new programs per year; the programs will run consecutively in the NOVA Wednesday evening primetime slot during the summer. During Season Three, over 2.7 million television viewers per week tuned in NOVA scienceNow, with 62,000 unique visitors to the web site per month and 75 active Science Cafés across the country. The expanded Science Café initiative is designed to become self-sustaining beyond the grant period through new partnerships with groups such as the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the American Chemical Society, and the Coalition for the Public Understanding of Science. The project will also collaborate with the Association of Science-Technology Centers and science centers around the country to host Science Cafés featuring scientists profiled on the web. Goodman Research Group will assess the reach and effectiveness of Seasons Five and Six. The focal/primary evaluation activity is a viewing and engagement study on the influence of viewing the series along with accessing and participating actively with the increased web and outreach offerings. This study will comprise web-based surveys with adaptive branching patterns, which will include data collection from a variety of participants and will focus on participants? use of the series, website, and outreach. The summative evaluation will measure how the project is reaching these audience segments, while also meeting the overall goals of increasing public understanding of science and engagement in science-related activities.
EdVenture Children's Museum, a hands-on, children's museum in Columbia, S.C., in close collaboration with NIH-funded researchers at the University of South Carolina, proposes a five-year, SEPA project titled "Unlocking the Mysteries of Chronic Diseases: BioInvestigations for Family, School and Youth Audiences." The program will develop teaching laboratories and experiments to educate youth ages 5-14, teens and adults about biomedical science topics in a fun, investigatory way. From these laboratory experiences, EdVenture will also develop educational programs designed to engage disadvantaged audiences in schools and communities to help expose them to the world of science and the benefits of community-based translational research. The laboratories and educational programs will utilize scientific content drawn from NIH-sponsored biomedical research, and will translate the research process and public impact into meaningful experiences for the public. These programs will reach a large population, both urban and rural, in socio-economically depressed areas of the state, promoting students' interest in topics that they may not otherwise be exposed to and encouraging a lifelong familiarity and facility with scientific thought and practice. Throughout the life expectancy of this project, a projected 2.5 million children and adults will experience the laboratories and related educational programs. Long-term goals are to encourage future biomedical science career choices, and most importantly, empower a child to take control over his/her own health decisions and to develop the necessary skills to navigate the flood of health information inherent in the quickly changing landscape that is health today.
Goals: 1) Increase the number of Alaskans from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly Alaska Natives, who pursue careers in health sciences and health professions and 2) Inform the Alaskan public about health science research and the clinical trial process so that they are better equipped to make healthier lifestyle choices and better understand the aims and benefits of clinical research. Objectives: 1) Pre-med Summer Enrichment program (U-DOC) at UAA (pipeline into college), 2) Statewide Alaska Student Scientist Corps for U-DOC, 3) students (pipeline into college), 4) Facility-based Student Science Guide program at Imaginarium Science Discovery Center, 5) Job Shadowing/Mentorship Program for U-DOC students and biomedical researchers, 6) Research-based and student-led exhibit, demonstration, and multi-media presentations, 7) Professional Development for educators, 8) North Star Website.
1. Build stepwise a prototype -Virtual Clinical Research Center- (VCRC) for K-12 learners and mentors (diverse peers, experts, and patients) by accessing, mobilizing, and linking the human and physical resources of a prototype national network of Clinical Research Centers (CRC) and translational laboratories through state-of-the-art Telemedicine communication and collaborative technologies and featuring T3 or the 3Ts - Teams, Technologies, Translation - of the Clinical Research Enterprise); 2. Develop the Medical Ignorance Exploratorium (MIEx) as a hybrid K-12 cybercafe-health science museum with key features of a) navigable, game-like, 3D environment including -Isles of Medical Ignorance- and -Questionator,- b) Resource Library, c) Live Performance Theater; and d) Collaboration Space, all to stimulate and guide student-centered inquiry about medical breakthroughs, clinical topics, and sick patients (featuring cyber Q3 or the 3Qs-Questions, Questioning, and Questioners); 3. Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the curricular and delivery resources and models in SA1 and 2 as well as the dissemination in SA4; 4. Disseminate, embed, and expand the refined Virtual CRC and Medical Ignorance Exploratorium in K-12 schools, the clinical research community, and beyond.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marlys WitteGrace WagnerMichael Bernas
The American Museum of Natural History requests SEPA support for a five-year development and implementation project entitled "Human Health and 'Human Bulletins': Scientists and Teens Explore Health Sciences in the Museum and World At Large." The program has three complementary components: (1) the development of 7 new productions for the Museum's digital media/documentary exhibition program, Human Bulletins http://sciencebulletins.amnh.org) featuring the newest health-related research; (2) a mini-course, entitled Hot Topics in Health Research NOW, an intensive after school program covering genetics, epidemiology, human health and human evolution, including a section on ethics in research; and (3) A "drop-in" Human Bulletins Science Club, where students meet monthly to watch a Human Bulletin visual news program, engage in informal discussions with significant researchers in the fields of evolutionary science and human health. The main goals of this project are: (1) to inform young people about emerging health-related research by using the Human Bulletins as core content for programming and points of engagement; (2) to promote a life-long interest in science among participants by teaching them how health-related science research could potentially affect them or their families; (3) to empower teens to critically assess the science presented to them in the Museum and in the world at large by teaching them to break down the "information bytes" of the Human Bulletins and to analyze how stories are presented visually and how to find answers to questions raised by the Bulletins; (4) for the young people in the program to see themselves as participants in the Museum by developing "mentor" relationships with Museum staff. This will allow students to see AMNH as an enduring institution to be used as a resource throughout their education and careers; and (5) to give students the means to envision themselves with future careers in science, research and in museums (thus fostering new generation of culturally-diverse, culturally enriched scientific leaders) by introducing them to scientists in an informal setting where there are no consequences for making mistakes or asking questions. The students will be given "behind the scenes" looks at new career options through the scientists featured in the Bulletins and the NIH funded researchers on the Advisory Board presenting at the informal sessions. Ultimately, the project aims to give students to critically process the information they receive about public health, see the relevance of human health science to their lives and pursue careers in health science. All of these skills are measurable through formative and summative evaluation. This project will teach young people to understand information about public health that is presented to them through visual and popular media as well as through formal scientific texts. It will also teach them to think about how human health sciences impact their lives and how the decisions they make impact larger human health. Finally, the program will also encourage students to pursue careers and further information about public health.