Letting challenges drive creativity and invention: Experiences of the Georgetown University Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience Karen Gale

EDUCATIONAL and TRAINING CHALLENGE 1: Faculty are spread too thin Increased burden of grant applications Increased regulatory burden (protocols, paperwork CREATIVE SOLUTIONS: Students as teaching and leadership partners Student representatives on program committees Student action committee source of ideas for program innovation Students as educators and course directors

Title:Learning to teach through teaching neuroscience: encouraging pedagogical awareness Authors: *P. A. FORCELLI 1,2, A. J. KRAFNICK 2,3, S. B. DUMANIS 2,4, T. CONNOR 2, L. PEPE 2, M. SMIRNOV 2, L. ULLRICH 2,5 Georgetown Univ., WASHINGTON, DC SfN 2011 Theme H Poster

Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior is a two-semester upper-level course at Georgetown University designed both to expose undergraduate and master’s students to broad areas of neuroscience and to provide pedagogical experience for Ph.D. students in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN). Advanced IPN Ph.D. students serve as course co-directors and give introductory lectures. They design syllabi, select readings and lecture topics, and prepare and grade student assessments. Serving as peer mentors, they train and coach student guest lecturers in the course. This provides advanced Ph.D. students with experience in collaborative course development, leadership, and peer evaluation. IPN faculty provide additional mentorship. A unique challenge in this course is that as course directors advance in their doctoral training, they must eventually pass on course leadership to less senior students. To maintain continuity, we have instituted a teaching practicum as a requirement for future course directors. In this practicum, second year students observe half of the lectures in a given semester, prepare their own lecture, and write and grade examination questions under the supervision of the course directors. There is, however, a second purpose to the teaching practicum: to encourage students to observe lectures with a focus not on didactic content, but on pedagogical strategies employed. Graduate students enrolled in the teaching practicum must also prepare a written commentary on each of the lectures they attend. This commentary focuses on the style employed by the lecturer, as well as the use of tools and techniques for effective instruction. Multiple projection screens, a SmartBoard, iClickers, and video recordings of lectures have enhanced the classroom experience, and provide a range of instruction from a digital "chalk talk" to dynamic powerpoint presentations. By focusing on the degree to which undergraduates in the course are engaged by the various instructional methods, practicum students can incorporate effective strategies into their lectures from the very beginning of their careers. The additional focus on technology in the classroom ensures that the next generation of faculty members will be well-versed in classroom technology as early adopters rather than requiring later retraining. Setting aside protected time to focus on pedagogy creates consciousness of aspects of teaching that otherwise may be stumbled upon through trial and error, increasing both the speed at which the instructor becomes competent as a teacher, and the quality of instruction provided to Georgetown undergraduate and MS students.

EDUCATIONAL and TRAINING CHALLENGE 2: Constraints on research Funding limitations Less opportunity for students to explore new paths CREATIVE SOLUTIONS: a) Co-mentorship Students forge novel collaborations b) Intramural predoctoral grant program Students write small grant applications Peer-reviewed by student panel

Title:It’s money! Early career, real world grant experience through a student-run peer reviewed grant program Authors:*S. DUMANIS, P. A. FORCELLI; Georgetown Univ., WASHINGTON, DC SfN 2011 Theme H Poster

Grantsmanship is an integral component of surviving and thriving in academic science, especially in the current funding climate. Therefore, additional opportunities to write, read, and review grants during graduate school will have lasting benefits on one's career. The Biomedical Graduate Education Organization of Georgetown University Medical Center provided $15,000 in funds to the Medical Center Graduate Student Organization Research Grant Program in These funds were used to initiate a grants program for three purposes: 1) to give graduate students an opportunity to conduct small, independent research projects, 2) to encourage graduate students to write grants often, and early and 3) to give graduate students an opportunity review grants. A request for applications with budgets of up to $5,000 was issued in the summer of In the first year of the program, 15 applications were submitted (with 7 of the 8 programs represented). There were seven reviewers, one faculty member, and two program officers present for the study section. Similar to the NIH grant system, there were three reviewers for each grant. 5 grants were funded (to varying levels of support [range: $1,000 to $5,000]) from which students have produced abstracts, manuscripts in preparation, and in one case, research which led to a postdoctoral position. With a relatively small financial contribution from the University, this program could be implemented at other institutions to the great benefit of the graduate student community.

Added Benefits Increased professional identity Enhanced pedagogical training and experience Development of leadership skills Development of grantsmanship skills Program Innovation Student investment in/ownership of program