The Youth Enjoy Science -Teach To Beat Cancer program funded by the National Cancer Institute utilizes the resources of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center to provide experiences and training for grade 6-12 teachers so that they are expertly equipped to develop curricular approaches to take…

Participatory evaluation tools have been shown to be effective for program development in various settings, including in higher education. Taking student perspectives into consideration is key for graduate program development, particularly in interdisciplinary programs. The current study utilizes Group Level Assessment (GLA), a participatory…

Team projects and in-class interactions are the hallmark of a freshmen introductory course in biomedical engineering (BME). Our challenge was to continue team activities, mentoring, and the semester-long design project in a virtual environment after in-person classes ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper highlights some of the adaptations…

Undergraduate research experiences are valuable, yet can be difficult for students to obtain. Working on open-ended research questions enables students to develop problem-solving skills, increase communication skills, enhance critical thinking, and help define career goals. Unfortunately, some students are unable to find positions in research…

The present article is based on a small-scale research that took place with the students in the Department of Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics in 2014 and three years later with the students of the same Department and the Department of Computer Science, as well. Students who have enrolled in the Educational science-Pedagogy module, that…

Undergraduate biomedical science degree-programs are considered to be non-vocational, with a diverse range of career outcomes. At our university, student and academic feedback indicated that biomedical science students were anxious and uncertain about their career options. In response to this careers anxiety, an in-curriculum, course-wide and…

Base Pair is an ongoing (1992-present) collaboration between University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) faculty mentors and Mississippi high school students and teachers. UMMC faculty and Base Pair teachers designed a course which has allowed curriculum innovations by teachers. The student component engages 15 trainees annually in laboratory…

We describe here the development and validation of the Academic Career Readiness Assessment (ACRA) rubric, an instrument that was designed to provide more equity in mentoring, transparency in hiring, and accountability in training of aspiring faculty in the biomedical life sciences. We report here the results of interviews with faculty at 20 U.S.…

Advances in three-dimensional (3D) printing allow for digital files to be turned into a "printed" physical product. For example, complex anatomical models derived from clinical or pre-clinical X-ray computed tomography (CT) data of patients or research specimens can be constructed using various printable materials. Although 3D printing…

There is much more to science education than the requirements demanded by the examination curriculum. This article illustrates one example of an in-depth investigation, kick started with a Royal Society Partnership Grant, into essential oils as antimicrobial agents. The project and subsequent extensions were selected to be presented at various…

To succeed at post-secondary education, it is essential that students develop an understanding of their own knowledge and learning processes. This metacognition of learning, or "meta-learning," helps students to become more effective learners, as they become more aware of their self-regulatory processes and recognise the effectiveness of…

Contribution: The current study finds that female-identified students report stronger associations between "helping others" and interest in bioengineering/biomedical engineering than non-females, while they report less interest in electrical and computer engineering overall, with similar associations to factors such as…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Building University Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) initiative to increase engagement and retention of undergraduates from diverse backgrounds in biomedical research. Portland State University, in partnership with ten other academic institutions, received a BUILD award and…

Although doctoral students in the biomedical sciences have been recognized as a population at particular risk for mental health problems such as burnout and depression, little research has been conducted to identify candidate targets for intervention. To this end, we used the stress process model to evaluate potential mediators of stress-burnout…

As a pilot intervention strategy to support undergraduate students, especially rural and Alaska Native students who are pursuing biomedical science research and career trajectories, we have developed a unique, mid-level Research, Advising, and Mentoring Professional (RAMP) position. In this article we outline the reasons for creating this…