RCN-UBE Summit: Learning from the Community of Education Networks; Wshington, D.C. - Early 2016

University Of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman OK

Investigators

Abstract

The PI team from University of Oklahoma, University of Delaware, Ohio Wesleyan University, Colorado State University, Unity College, University of Nebraska at Omaha, and San Diego State University has received an award through the Research Coordination Network - Undergraduate Biology Education (RCN-UBE) program to hold a conference entitled RCN-UBE Summit: Learning from the Community of Education Networks. The conference assembles the key personnel from awards of the Research Coordination Network-Undergraduate Biology Education (RCN-UBE) in Washington, DC, early in 2016. Projects funded through this program contribute both to the discipline of biology and to the education of undergraduate biology students; they bring together faculty who would not normally collaborate but who communicate and interact in a variety of newly established networks. This conference of key project personnel is the first time that representatives of all RCN-UBEs have met to exchange information about successful strategies used to advance biology and biology education across America. The summit attendees will include the Principal Investigators of all RCN-UBE projects (22 of the 38 PIs are women), the co-Principal Investigators of all full RCN-UBEs, as well as key network faculty from under-represented groups and faculty from institutions with a highly diverse student population. The first RCN-UBE awards were made in 2009, and there is now a critical mass of projects to warrant a meeting of Principal and co-Principal investigators to share insights, results, and recommendations with each other and the NSF about the formation and work of these undergraduate biology education networks. The summit provides a formal way for personnel to discuss issues related to network management, organization, sustainability, and product dissemination. In particular, this face-to-face meeting is important to current and future projects in order to sustain successful components of projects, how to initiate and cultivate networks of science faculty, and how to promote maximum participation from a diversity of biologists. This award is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.