image: (From left) Anne Brown, Justin Lemkul, and Jonathan Briganti are researching a means to enhance the technical and practical data science skills of students studying molecular bioscience with Jessica Nash, who is not pictured.
Credit: Virginia Tech photos.
A world-class education with a side of applied knowledge is on the course menu.
This fall, Associate Professor Anne Brown is teaming with Professor Ashley McDonald at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, to enhance the technical and practical data science skills of students studying molecular bioscience. Supported by a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program grant, the researchers will create the Molecular Data Education Hub, which will host open-access resources and modules tailored to specific student and faculty needs.
“When you put data science instructional material in the context of the topic that students are studying, such as biochemistry, they more readily engage and apply it with purpose and critical thought, rather than focusing on abstract topics,” said Brown, who is also a Data Science Faculty Fellow in the College of Science and associate director of DataBridge Research Lab in University Libraries. “In a molecular biosciences context, the material is much more relevant and connected to workforce ready skills of their major, and they can see themselves using the data science skills more readily.”
Brown said the modules will be based on surveys about needed skill sets and will include instructional materials and molecular bioscience research case studies for instructors to easily implement into their courses. The modules will not only be based on perceived skill set needs, but also on individual academic interests and preferences.
She believes the three-year project comes at a critical time in higher education, as the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence require students to hone their skills of interpreting data in complex ways. She recently helped launch Virginia Tech’s Discovery Lab, which aims to provide undergraduate students opportunities to develop such workforce-ready skills.
“There’s a gap between where students are and where they need to be in terms of critical thinking, communication and their ability to interrogate data for decision- making,” said Brown, who is in the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “We need to be working as educators to decrease that gap.”
Brown’s team at Virginia Tech includes co-principal investigators Justin Lemkul, associate professor of biochemistry; Jonathan Briganti, Universities Libraries; and Jessica Nash, software scientist and education lead at the Molecular Sciences Software Institute.
Brown and McDonald met during an American Chemical Society (ACS) Conference when Brown received an award in the ACS Division of Computers in Chemistry for which McDonald served as chair. McDonald, who was engaged in upskilling some faculty’s computational skills, was impressed with Brown’s outreach work teaching coding to young women and K-12 girls. Their conversations made it clear that teaching data science skills in a disciplined context was important for all their learners.
“I didn’t have anyone at Cal Poly SLO that I could collaborate with who had done this kind of rigorous, educational, and human-centered research to develop the personas and come up with an almost quantitative way of characterizing the context that was needed,” McDonald said. “I knew that was Anne’s expertise, and I thought that having these multiple contexts would be really important to reach all kinds of people with our curriculum.”
The two thought that by creating a partnership between an R1 university — Virginia Tech — and a Primarily Undergraduate University — California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo — they could create module content that would work for a variety of students and faculty. R1 university is a destination based on extensive research and doctoral degrees conferred.
Before building resources and content for the Molecular Data Education Hub, the research team will extensively survey undergraduate students in molecular biosciences programs at Cal Poly, Virginia Tech, and other universities across the nation.
The survey will assess students’ general backgrounds, prior relevant knowledge, perception of needs, and any existing special considerations. The data will be used to create a range of learning content and modules capable of assisting novice to advanced level students in learning and applying data science techniques to molecular bioscience-based data sets.
Researchers also will survey faculty at partner institutions to assess current teaching methods, instructional strategies, and perceived barriers to incorporating data science into molecular biosciences courses. These surveys will aim to capture a snapshot of what skills and tools are actively in use now and the anticipated skills needed of future employees.
“It is essential to align academic training with industry needs, ensuring graduates possess the competencies required to tackle real-world challenges in molecular biosciences and succeed in a data-driven workforce,” said Brown, an affiliate with the Fralin Life Sciences Institute’s Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-bourne Pathogens.
Based on these results, the researchers will develop the Molecular Data Education Hub with the aim of it serving as a collaborative community for students and faculty across institution types. They also will host multi-day workshops and create an academic course.
“I think that across all STEM disciplines, everybody is sort of realizing that computation skills are becoming more important, not less,” said McDonald, professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
Throughout the study, the researchers will survey faculty, students, and industry leaders for current applicable data skills. They will also stay attuned to the broader shifting needs of industry and incorporate both sets of feedback into the modules.
“Improving data collection and analysis skills requires meeting people where they are,” said Brown. “Our resources created with this project are designed to be flexible. We will provide molecular biosciences-based individual modules that plug into existing courses, integrate larger content blocks into a full class, or deliver day-long workshops for students and faculty.”