Workshop Sessions
| Title | Description | Lead by | Date & Time | |
| Building a Publishing Pipeline: Concrete Strategies for Increasing Your Writing Productivity | The Building A Publishing Pipeline virtual workshop is designed to teach participants how to make a concrete action plan for moving several writing projects forward simultaneously by establishing a personalized tracking process and developing a daily writing practice. | Erin Furtak, Ph.D. |
June 28 1PM-3PM |
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| Mentoring Up and Down: The Mentoring Life Cycle | This workshop will help attendees define and understand the role of mentoring and grow within their role of being both a mentee and a mentor. Additionally, attendees will gain familiarity with resources available through the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) to gain mentorship confidence, expand their STEM network, and to access mentorship, networking, and professional development resources. Upon completion of this workshop, attendees will gain practical tools, learn to evolve in their roles in the mentoring life cycle, and learn how to expand their mentorship network through NRMN |
National Research Mentor Network Damaris Javier Katie Stinson |
June 28th 1PM-2:30PM |
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| Teaching and Assessing Biology Core Concepts: Building scientific literacy at the introductory course level | The ability to understand and critically analyze primary literature is a foundational skill for aspiring scientists and an essential tool for increasing the science literacy of the public. Undergraduate students rarely get exposure to reading research articles outside of small, upper-level biology courses if they even get that opportunity at all. An early introduction to reading primary and review articles can serve the dual purposes of building up skills for future scientists and introducing students to the idea that biology is a dynamic field driven by advances continuously reported in journals rather than “set in stone” in a textbook. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together scholars with a wide range of teaching and learning experiences to come up with and present strategies for incorporating the primary literature into large, introductory biology courses. Adapting what is traditionally taught in a small, seminar-style format to a large introductory course will make it easier to reach a larger set of students in a wide range of institutions. In partnership with two other IRACDA scholars at Tufts University, I will give a brief presentation setting up the question of how to port a paper reading seminar to a large introductory biology course. This presentation will include lesson plan examples and potential class structures. The meat of the workshop, however, will be a group-based “hack-a-thon” where scholar teams will come up with a literature-based intro class. Each group will pitch their idea to the rest of the workshop, and we will end with a discussion where we put together all the best ideas into an ideal course curriculum that can be implemented at any secondary education institution. |
Gonzalo Luis Gonzalez-Del Pino, Ph.D. |
June 28 1:30PM-3PM |
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| Conversations on race and social justice in academia |
Conversations on the topic of race can be difficult and training is often limited. The goal of this interactive workshop is to provide participants with a framework on how to engage in on-going conversations around race and social justice in academia, in an effort to be better educators and researchers. Participants will engage in small group activities and collectively work together to create an action plan to bring this framework to their communities. At the end of the workshop, the participants will have the tools to initiate on-going conversations within groups to address race and social justice in academia. Participants will receive a copy of authors’ manuscript that includes lesson plans. |
Karena Ha Nguyen Ida Tchuisseu Fonkoue Jasmine Michelle Miller-Kleinhenz |
June 28 1PM-2:30PM |
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| Hypothesis Design and Scientific Writing: Strategies for Success in Obtaining Funding to Support Your Research and Teaching |
One major challenge all researchers face is the extreme competition for extramural funding. In this competitive funding climate, there is an urgent need to streamline the path to research dollars and enhance the competitiveness of our trainees. To address this need, faculty at Emory University designed and implemented a formal course called “Hypothesis Design and Scientific Writing”(1). This course, which began in 1998, is taught over a full semester, meeting once weekly for a 2-hour session. Enrolled students work closely with a collaborative team consisting of their research mentor and course directors to conceive and craft a research proposal that adheres to an NIH grant format. In course meetings, each section of the research proposal is introduced and strategies for successful presentation of scientific ideas are discussed. In this workshop, we will highlight key strategies from this formal course. A long-term director of the course and a recent IRACDA fellow will discuss initial steps to getting a grant proposal started. Topics will include marketing your grant proposal, a discussion of where to target your proposal, what mechanism might best fit your current training stage as well as general strategies for success. Workshop attendees are encouraged to come with a plan to submit a proposal, an idea for a proposal, or an interest in learning about these topics. Following a general overview of topics, we will use breakout rooms to refine ideas and then return for a general discussion and to answer questions. If time allows, we will select some ideas to walk through the process of getting started by deciding where to target proposal ideas and how to select the most appropriate mechanism.
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Anita H. Corbett, PhD Derrick J. Morton, PhD |
June 28 1:30-3pm |
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| A Career Development Resource for Postdoctoral Scientists and Mentors |
Since 2018, UT Health’s SABER*IRACDA Library has offered highly detailed answers to postdoctoral scientists’ frequently-asked-questions [FAQs] by assembling documents describing best practices for applying for academic jobs, to improve teaching skills, and lessons learned about a successful life in academia. We encourage other active mentors at IRACDA sites to improve their outreach to postdoctoral mentees by gathering field-specific career planning documents in a similar online platform. We showcase the SABER*IRACDA Scholars Library created by UT Health’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to illustrate the numerous advantages of an online platform to provide your busy postdocs the advice and information they need to further career development. Advantages for mentees (Scholars) include on-demand 24/7 access to career advice, best practices, and career planning materials. Advantages for mentors include greater efficiency in disseminating information about future career options, resulting in greater postdoc self-preparation. |
John Gomez, Ph.D. James Lechleiter, Ph.D. Babatunde Oyajobi, Ph.D. |
June 28 1PM-1:30PM |
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| Creating Connections: An Introduction to the Alda Method® | The Alda Center’s Creating Connections program is a two-hour live, online workshop designed to help scientists and researchers learn to engage and inspire diverse audiences through effective communication, with a particular focus on virtual interactions. Participants will learn how to balance being prepared with responding at the moment to address questions. The program emphasizes universal communication strategies, including avoiding jargon, and technical skills for creating engagement online, including camera angles and sound levels. | Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science |
June 29 1PM-3PM |
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| The Virtual Future Panel Discussion | Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic upended our lives. We were forced to abruptly transition our research, our teaching, and even our scientific gatherings to a virtual format. This transition showed the need for new technologies, it revealed inequalities and suggested opportunities. Today, even as universities start to tentatively open up for in-person activities, the future remains uncertain. This Panel addresses the important questions: What will the future look like? What will be the long-term effect on research, publications, teaching and learning, and gatherings of the scientific community? How can we guide this change towards creating a better future? The panelists will take a deep dive on the consequences and opportunities of this virtual shift, as well as discuss strategies and new technologies that were developed during this year. |
Konrad Kording, Ph.D. Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D. Vincent Lariviere, Ph.D., Stanley Lo, Ph.D. |
June 29 1PM-2:30PM |
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| Accessibility in the Lab: ADA workshop | In this interactive workshop case scenarios will be used to illustrate accommodations for individuals with various types of disabilities. Attendees will learn about federal laws that require access in the lab and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations, including those for service animals. Participants will receive a letter of attendance for their portfolios. |
Christopher Sweet Jennifer Perry Joe Zesski Northeast ADA Center at Cornell University |
June 29 1PM-2:30PM |
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| Engaging Students and Making Classrooms Fair and Inclusive: Cross-Disciplinary Tools, Insights, and Strategies to Promote Student Success | Teaching diverse populations of students requires instructors to construct learning environments that are inclusive and equitable. Research in psychology and other disciplines suggests that how students personally experience learning environments strongly influences engagement, motivation, sense of belonging, and conceptual learning. In this interactive workshop, participants will share a common experience as the basis for discussing how students may experience classroom environments differently from one another. Individual participants will then have the opportunity to self-assess their current awareness 21 common equitable teaching strategies and identify those that could be immediately implemented in classrooms, as well as in professional environments such as group meetings, seminars, and conferences | Kimberly Tanner, Ph.D. |
1PM-2PM |
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| HHMI: Choosing and Using Case Studies for Helping Students Integrate Challenging Concepts in Biology | In this session participants will engage in two different types of case studies for learning challenging biology content and discuss effective features of case studies and effective strategies for employing case studies. By attending the session, participants will begin building a toolkit for developing or using case studies relevant to their own classes using HHMI BioInteractive resources and gain practice developing their own short case study. |
Paul Beardsley, Ph.D., Cal Poly Pomona Phil Gibson, Ph.D. The University of Oklahoma
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June 29 1PM-2:30PM |
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| Capitalizing on the recent proliferation of flipped-classrooms and the comfort of hybrid/virtual learning environments to achieve the expansion of CUREs to all Biology curricula. | In 2020, Faculty were thrusted into virtual environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to a proliferation of recorded lectures for everything from entry- to upper-level courses. Although an incredibly traumatizing year that revealed deeply problematic and systemic inequities, it may mark a watershed moment of converting to flipped classrooms since the biggest barrier to entry has been pre-recording lectures. This naturally raises the question of how to fill the traditional lecture period time. A major goal of biology education reform is the introduction of mentored-research in the form of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) as it improves retention and success amongst undergraduates, especially those from underrepresented or non-traditional backgrounds. But for similar reasons to the hurdles of flipped classrooms, CUREs have not been widely adopted. The movement toward prerecorded lectures suggests an unprecedented opportunity to utilize CUREs as the active-learning component of these new flipped classrooms. The first half of the workshop will discuss the range of CUREs available with a focus on two examples: 1) a stand-alone 300-level CURE where students design/implement a research study of their choice and 2) a low-cost 100-level virtual “lab in a box” CURE that runs directly in the lecture period of a flipped classroom. During the second half of the workshop, attendees will identify a) the style of CURE most suitable for their curriculum, b) research questions suitable for their CURE based on attendee’s expertise, and c) skillsets IRACDA fellows can develop prior to entering the job market that will facilitate their CURE implementation. |
Nathan T. Fried, Ph,D. Edward A Waddell, Ph.D.
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June 29 1PM-2:15PM |
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| Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Panel |
Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) provide research access for all rather than just the few. Faculty members participating in this panel will share their experiences implementing, assessing, and publishing scientific results based on their CURE work. Hear how their CUREs made a difference to their students’ lives, department goals and their own careers. |
Leocadia Paliulis, Ph.D. Joyce Stamm, Ph.D. Theodore Muth, Ph.D. |
June 29 2:15PM-3PM |
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| Science Graphics Production Workshop |
Effective communication of scientific ideas or principles is an important skill for teachers and researchers. Graphics are a common method used to communicate scientific ideas. This workshop guides participants in the best practices of preparing a graphical figure for publication. The workshop will teach: 1) basic design principles 2) royalty-free image procurement 3) original graphics production using MS PowerPoint 4) soliciting feedback and revision 5) graphic preparation for submission. The presenter will lead and demonstrate each teaching goal and encourage participants to 1) follow along with materials provided or 2) work on their own graphics as groups. Upon completion participants will have a better understanding of how effective science graphics are produced, know how to use MS PowerPoint (available to everyone) to produce basic graphics and how to prepare graphics for publication. |
Miguel de la Flor, Ph.D., Scott Weldon, Scott Holmes |
June 29 1PM-3PM |
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| Engaging Students and Making Classrooms Fair and Inclusive: Cross-Disciplinary Tools, Insights, and Strategies to Promote Student Success |
Teaching diverse populations of students requires instructors to construct learning environments that are inclusive and equitable. Research in psychology and other disciplines suggests that how students personally experience learning environments strongly influences engagement, motivation, sense of belonging, and conceptual learning. In this interactive workshop, participants will share a common experience as the basis for discussing how students may experience classroom environments differently from one another. Individual participants will then have the opportunity to self-assess their current awareness 21 common equitable teaching strategies and identify those that could be immediately implemented in classrooms, as well as in professional environments such as group meetings, seminars, and conferences. |
Kimberly Tanner, Ph.D.
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June 30 1PM-2PM |
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| Reproducibility for Everyone |
This workshop will introduce reproducible workflows and a range of tools along the themes of organization, documentation, analysis, and dissemination. After a brief introduction to the topic of reproducibility, the workshop will provide specific tips and tools useful in improving daily research workflows. reproducible bioinformatics tools and methods, protocol and reagent sharing, data visualization, and version control. The methods and tools introduced help researchers share work with their future self, their immediate colleagues, and the wider scientific community. |
April Clyburne-Sherin, Ph.D. Alberto Antonietti, Ph.D. Nele Haelterman, Ph.D. |
June 30 1PM-2PM |
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| A practical, modular approach to building student confidence and resiliency through the lens of diversity for the classroom, department, or university levels |
In this active learning workshop attendees will learn how to apply a three-pronged structure: Career Exploration, Professional Development through the lens of Diversity, and Mentorship to build confidence and resiliency in members of their labs, classrooms, or student programs. |
Kinmonth-Schultz Hannah Abigail Karen Olson |
June 30 1PM-2PM |
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| The Teaching Component of a Tenure-track Faculty Position: Striving for it during the Job Interview and Navigating it successfully during your First Tenure Track Years. |
This conversation will share tips and opportunities to address the teaching-related questions of job interviews successfully. During the second part of the conversation, the facilitator will share different avenues to navigate tenure-track teaching landscape considering different types of institutions once you secure the position. These possibilities will include effective ways to integrate teaching duties with other research and service expectations for a tenure-track faculty member.
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Nelson Nunez Rodriguez, Ph.D. |
June 30 1PM-2PM |
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