2022 — 2023 |
Rotman, Maarten Roy, Rahul Campbell, Katherine |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Community of Neighboring and National Entrepreneurial Centers and Trainees (Connect) Network @ St. Catherine University
This project aims to serve the national interest by building a vibrant and diverse network of educators, innovators, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders to incorporate biosciences entrepreneurship into undergraduate biology curricula. There is a special focus on the inclusion of women and entrepreneurs of color, as these groups of professionals are still underrepresented in both input and outcomes of entrepreneurial activities in general and in the biosciences in particular, despite having reached parity in science and engineering bachelor’s degrees. <br/><br/>Through three project objectives, each with objective-specific activities, the CONNECT network creates its vibrant, inclusive community space where educators, students, and entrepreneurs of color collaborate, and share resources and best practices for incorporating the emerging field of biosciences entrepreneurship into undergraduate biology education. First the network will be established by offering multiple opportunities for in-person and virtual gatherings, such as CONNECTions (CONNECT - Innovation Online Networks), and cross-institutional and multidisciplinary journal clubs focused on bioscientific entrepreneurship. Second, a sharable database, and the foundation for a strong data-driven follow-up project, will be established by performing a survey-based needs assessment among the CONNECT participants. This will form the initial directive for the ideal future state of undergraduate biology education in relation to biosciences entrepreneurship. And thirdly, the project will host the first annual workshop called CONNECT-ED, which will allow the CONNECT participants to actively share data and insights. The incubator network will collaborate in future years to launch a biosciences entrepreneurship curriculum to fill this gap. By teaching undergraduate STEM students to see their ideas as innovations and giving them the tools to commercialize their ideas, we will not only train future biosciences entrepreneurs but also develop strategic thinkers. It is expected that students who think more strategically about their career paths will be more likely to ask critical questions, be comfortable with failures, iterations, and course-corrections, and more likely to persist in the STEM pipeline through their improved navigation skills. Until we can change the current macro-systems that disadvantage BIPOC women in STEM and devalue their innovations, we aim to build micro-systems and communities of practice that lift up and learn from these leaders. <br/>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 efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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