Conference: To Organize a Conference Entitled Innovation in Biological Research and Education in the Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, June 17-19, 2010 Arlington, VA

Quality Education For Minorities Network, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit: The workshop, entitled "Innovation in Biological Research and Education in the Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB)", will take place in Arlington, Virginia on June 17-19, 2010. There will be approximately 50 participants representing recent CAREER Principal Investigators (PIs), NSF PIs with excellent K-12 outreach and PIs with Research Initiation Grant (RIG) awards. The workshop will include three keynote presentations, two by former CAREER PIs, and one by an expert in science education. The remainder of the meeting will involve an information session about NSF funding opportunities, poster sessions for participants to present their research and outreach, and working discussions both of the leading edge in MCB research and of opportunities for integration of research and education. The workshop will introduce MCB division staff to a community of the division's PIs; increase participants understanding of the NSF; promote scientific exchange across MCB disciplines; increase participants understanding of ties between broader impacts and education; and identify successful ways to integrate research and education. MCB Program Officers will have the opportunity to get to know the MCB PI community better; benefit from increased discussion of science in the Division; better understand obstacles and potential solutions for PI success in research and education; be able to recruit future panelists and reviewers as well as identify potential rotators; and get ideas about the leading edge in science from the perspective of MCB PIs. Broader Impacts: Participants will have an increased understanding of: the Foundation and how it functions; opportunities, including funding, at the Foundation available to them; effective ways of integrating research and education; opportunities for collaboration with other participating principal investigators; and potential new directions their research might take. Program Officers will have an increased understanding of the outcomes of the research and education activities that have been funded by the Division as well as increased understanding of the challenges that often confront young investigators and of ways to help the Principal Investigators address those barriers. A report on the workshop and outcomes will be produced and distributed to the participants and made available throughout the NSF and to a wider audience via the internet.