RCN-UBE Summit: A New Landscape for Undergraduate Biology Education

Broadening participation by increasing student diversity in academic science disciplines has shown limited progress over the last decade and recruitment and retention issues persist for those students historically underrepresented in science. In the RCN-UBE (Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology Education) program, over 50 collaborative networks of academic institutions work together to address undergraduate biology education and broadening participation in the sciences.

The conference, RCN-UBE Summit: Creating New Landscapes in Undergraduate Biology Education, will bring together RCN-UBE network participants to explore how networks of institutions can work together to change the demographics of the science disciplines. The conference will convene science practitioners, educators, and university faculty to evaluate the role of networks in shifting the science enterprise towards a more inclusive approach by reaching across multiple institutional types from minority serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and larger research institutions.

In the Summit, RCN-UBE network participants will present best practices and engage in facilitated workshop sessions to discuss topics in undergraduate education and broadening participation in the sciences. Each workshop session will also explore opportunities for new networks, especially those led by smaller and minority institutions, to form within a supportive environment of existing networks.

Case studies and other materials will be presented to generate ideas and potential solutions to engage diverse students as participants in the production of scientific knowledge, and to develop innovative ways to increase the use of this knowledge in formal and informal science educational settings. 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/).

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.