<p class="Default">The gap in educational attainment separating underrepresented minorities from Whites and Asians remains wide. Such a gap has significant impact on workforce diversity and inclusion among cross-cutting Biomedical Data Science (BDS) research, which presents great opportunities as well as major challenges for addressing health disparities. This article provides a brief description of the newly established National Institutes of Health Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) diversity initiatives at four universities: California State University, Monterey Bay; Fisk University; University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus; and California State University, Fullerton. We emphasize three main barriers to BDS careers (ie, preparation, exposure, and access to resources) experienced among those pioneer programs and recommendations for possible solutions (ie, early and proactive mentoring, enriched research experience, and data science curriculum development). The diversity disparities in BDS demonstrate the need for educators, researchers, and funding agencies to support evidence-based practices that will lead to the diversification of the BDS workforce. <em></em></p><p class="Default"><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2017;27(2):107-116; doi:10.18865/ed.27.2.107.</p>
A new technique using metal tags to track small seeds over short distances Abstract Myrmecochory (seed dispersal by ants) is an evolutionarily and ecologically common mutualism. Since the first study of the phenomenon, ecologists have sought to develop techniques to track ant-dispersed seeds. Often, thick leaf litter and the potential burial of seeds by ants make tracking of seeds difficult. Here we describe a seed-tracking technique for small seeds, which uses magnetic tags, developed for mark-recapture studies of fish, to track seeds after dispersal into the ant nest in temperate deciduous forests. We discuss our use of the technique as well as suggestions for improvement and other possible applications of the technique.
A s regional accreditation agencies place more emphasis on direct assessment of student achievement and demonstrated use of results to improve learning, engaging faculty in assessment is becoming increasingly important; however, it is a common trope in higher education that faculty do not want to participate in institution-level assessment (Emil and Cress 2014; Hutchings 2010). California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) uses an approach to assessing institutional learning outcomes using reflective faculty engagement that contradicts that trope. Our process has been guided by our belief that assessment should:• be directed by faculty, • recognize both faculty expertise and potential for growth, • emphasize the centrality of improving student learning, • foster dialogue and community-building, and • produce usable results. This article describes our approach and presents data on how participation has impacted faculty.
Directed by FacultyAt CSUMB, assessment of student learning outcomes is directed by faculty through the Academic Senate Assessment Committee, whose voting members consist of faculty representatives from each college. In response to our regional accreditor's requirement that we assess student achievement of the five core competencies (critical thinking, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, written communication, and oral communication) (WSCUC 2018), CSUMB decided at the outset to design institution-level assessments that foster faculty engagement. In 2013, the Assessment Committee appointed a faculty Critical Thinking Coordinator who assembled an interdisciplinary team of faculty to assess critical thinking at the institutional level. Since then, coordinators for each of the core competencies have been chosen, and each core competency has been assessed multiple times.
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