RCN UBE-Incubator: Interdisciplinary Communication Laboratory for Undergraduate Biology (iCLUB)

Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Norfolk VA

Investigators

Abstract

This Interdisciplinary Communication Laboratory for Undergraduate Biology (iCLUB) incubator project establishes a community of undergraduate biology faculty. These faculty regard healthy collaboration as essential to their research and teaching, especially in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary efforts. A major goal of the network is the participation of this community of faculty, along with research collaborators from other disciplines such as mathematics, in Communication Labs led by experts in biology,and in interdisciplinary communication and communication arts. Intellectual Merit: Communication Lab participants identify and address barriers to effective collaborative research at disciplinary intersections. Afterwards participants continue to explore solutions to these challenges as members of iCLUB online forums. This approach to professional development particularly focuses on helping faculty transfer new skills in interdisciplinary communication to their undergraduate students as part of their labs and courses, thus enhancing learning in undergraduate biology classrooms. Broader Impacts: This incubator project provides the foundation for a comprehensive resource coordination network with the goal of discovering, creating and investigating tools for improving communication for biology faculty, undergraduate and graduate students and their collaborators working and teaching across disciplines. The iCLUB incubator is working towards this major goal by solidifying the Foundational Laboratory Workshop, developing an initial website, establishing an email list serve, hosting webinars for communication among network participants, and assessing the needs and priorities for future curriculum development. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education efforts.