Faculty Forum : Research and Graduate Education – Update

The University of Maine’s strategic plan outlines goals for Research and Graduate Education. These goals include the enhancement of “our research capacity and output as measured in the core areas of research expenditures and private foundation funding” as well as the advancement of an “integrative model of excellence for graduate education in the 21st century”. Further, UMaine is called to “foster dynamic professional training and development activities through university-wide interdisciplinary research networks.” In March 2014, an Academic Affairs Forum focused on the opportunity to rethink our approach to accomplishing these goals under a proposed reorganization of Research and the Graduate School. At this forum, Vice President of Research and Dean of the Graduate School Carol Kim will provide an update on the progress made to date. Notable examples of the integration of Research and Graduate Education, collaborations created and enhanced, as well as opportunities for additional synergies to be achieved will be discussed. Finally, the Provost will provide an update on the UMS “One University for all of Maine” initiative, especially related to Academic Affairs

Applying Task Force Recommendations on Integrating Science and Practice in Health Service Psychology Education

The proper role of research skills and training to conduct research in professional psychology education has been controversial throughout the history of the field. An extensive effort was undertaken recently to address that issue and identify ways the field might move forward in a more unified manner. In 2015, the American Psychological Association (APA) Board of Educational Affairs convened a task force to address one of the recommendations made by the Health Service Psychology Education Collaborative in 2013. That recommendation stated that the education and training of health service psychologists (HSPs) include an integrative approach to science and practice that incorporates scientific-mindedness, training in research skills, and goes well beyond merely “consuming” research findings. The task force subsequently developed recommendations related to the centrality of science competencies for HSPs and how these competencies extend beyond training in evidence-based practice. This article discusses the findings of the task force and the implications of its recommendations for education and training in HSP. The challenges and opportunities associated with implementing these recommendations in HSP graduate programs are examined

Validation of predictive equations to estimate resting metabolic rate of females and males across different activity levels

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are sincerely grateful to all the volunteers involved in this experimental study. This research was performed in the Human Integrative Physiology Laboratory (Dept. of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA). OPN is funded by a Virginia Tech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, KHR by a Virginia Tech Translational Obesity Research Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Predoctoral Fellow-ship, and GZR is funded by Next Generation EU funds Margarita Salas Postdoctoral Fellowship. FUNDING INFORMATION OPN is funded by a Virginia Tech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, and KHR by a Virginia Tech Translational Obesity Research Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Predoctoral FellowshipPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Ideology and Interdisciplinary Science Graduate Education Reform

Over the past few decades, a variety of science education reform publications have emerged from both public and private entities, alongside graduate programs established to provide training for integrating multiple disciplines in research activities. Several documents concerning federal education policy have explored the socioeconomic impacts of reforming graduate education in the sciences and have made recommendations for funding interdisciplinary traineeship programs at U.S. universities. On the other hand, much of the current academic literature concerning interdisciplinary graduate science education considers the subject from functionalist perspectives, aiming to contribute best practices for assessment and curricular programming. In contrast to both of these efforts, this research contributes a critical analysis of interdisciplinary science education reform policy by placing such reform efforts within the context of a changing global socioeconomic landscape. Through tracing the development of the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program as a product of federal policy, patterns of socioeconomic ideology contained within the political documents associated with the development of this program are analyzed alongside an overview of its curricular content. Discussion of the findings is concerned with developing a critical understanding of the relationship that interdisciplinary science and science education have to ideology as a force of social reproduction. The conclusions of this analysis advocate for a critical, historical, and materialist orientation in science education research and critical education studies, while emphasizing the role of ideology in social reproduction

Fostering Clinical and Academic Faculty Collaborations to Improve Graduate Education

Accredited graduate programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) work to integrate academic coursework, a breadth of clinical experiences, and an overarching capstone project (e.g. summative assessment). The best graduate programs focus on integrating these three elements through high quality collaborations between academic and clinical faculty. These collaborations are fostered when clinical and academic faculty attempt to provide students with experiences that intersect academic, research, and clinical areas of speech language pathology. The purpose of this paper describes the collaborative efforts undertaken by the CSD department at the Pennsylvania State University. We present a model for collaborations in graduate education and discuss examples of our current integrative projects

UMass Boston Coasts and Communities IGERT Program

The Coasts and Communities IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) Program starting in 2014 at the University of Massachusetts Boston provides PhD students with the skills to understand the interactions between natural and human systems and to develop appropriate policy solutions for urban and urbanizing environments. By emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and communication, this program aims to enable trainees to apply innovative and sustainable solutions across geographical, political, and economic contexts

PhD Research in an Entrepreneurial Environment: The Innovation Realization Lab

This paper describes a new graduate education initiative entitled the Innovation Realization Laboratory that is funded by the National Science Foundation through the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program. The overall objective of the initiative is to have management students and Ph.D. students in science and engineering team to explore issues related to the commercialization of the Ph.D. students\u27 research results. This provides the MBA students with a real world opportunity to apply their business education in a high technology entrepreneurial situation, while providing the Ph.D. students an exposure to all of the complex issues associated with moving research findings to the marketplace. It represents an experiment to determine whether a significant enhancement of the educational experience can be acquired without placing an undue burden on either member of such a student team (or on the major professors). This program has been in operation for two years and has proven quite successful. The paper will describe the program structure, relate some of the lessons learned, and present an assessment of the program based on faculty observations and student feedback

Critical Thinking in Nursing Education: An Integrative Review

Aim. This integrative review aimed to review studies on critical thinking and how it is essential in nursing education. The research question that guided this integrative review was: What teaching strategies positively influence critical thinking development in new graduate nurses? Background. Critical thinking is an essential skill in the nursing profession which helps nurses to prioritize and perform life- saving interventions for the patient. This desirable competency is an expected outcome upon graduating from nursing school. However, there is growing concern that new graduate nurses lack this essential skill. Data Sources. Articles were located by searching electronic data bases including PubMed, CINAHL Plus, Medline Complete, Scopus and Ebsco Host electronic databases. The studies examined learning styles, problem-based learning (PBL), unfolding case studies, and simulation as teaching strategies that may influence critical thinking development in nursing students. Review Method: Whittemore and Knafl’s (2005) framework for data collection and synthesis was used for this integrative review. Results: Two main themes and three subthemes identified were: 1. Teaching strategies may directly or indirectly impact critical thinking in nursing students. Subthemes included: PBL, unfolding case studies, and simulation as they were noted to influence critical thinking in nursing students. 2. Learning styles may influence critical thinking in learners. Conclusion. Further research is needed to further understand learning styles and PBL, unfolding case studies and simulation as teaching strategies that may influence critical thinking in nursing students

What effects do nurse residency programs have on the transition of newly licensed nurses into the practice environment during the first year of practice?

Purpose: The purpose of this review is to compare current research on nurse residency programs and determine to what degree they assist the positive transition of new graduate nurses during the first year of practice. Design: An integrative literature review was conducted of research studies on nurse residency programs in acute care settings. Kramer\u27s Reality Shock Theory guided this review. Methods: Research published in the U.S. between 2007-2013, was obtained from electronic data searches using the key works new graduate nurses , novice nurse , reality shock , and nurse residency programs. Outcomes were compared and synthesized into major themes. Findings: Major themes include an increase in competency, satisfaction, peer support, confidence, commitment to the profession, and retention of nurses who completed yearlong residency programs. Organizational cost savings was also found. Conclusions/Relevance: The findings support previous research recommendations that the ideal length of nurse residency programs is one year; and the essential program components include preceptors or mentors and didactic education. This study findings show advance evidence of the important effects that nurse residency programs have on new graduate nurses\u27 transition into practice, including a reduction in reality shock

Upward synaptic scaling is dependent on neurotransmission rather than spiking

Homeostatic plasticity encompasses a set of mechanisms that are thought to stabilize firing rates in neural circuits. The most widely studied form of homeostatic plasticity is upward synaptic scaling (upscaling), characterized by a multiplicative increase in the strength of excitatory synaptic inputs to a neuron as a compensatory response to chronic reductions in firing rate. While reduced spiking is thought to trigger upscaling, an alternative possibility is that reduced glutamatergic transmission generates this plasticity directly. However, spiking and neurotransmission are tightly coupled, so it has been difficult to determine their independent roles in the scaling process. Here we combined chronic multielectrode recording, closed-loop optogenetic stimulation, and pharmacology to show that reduced glutamatergic transmission directly triggers cell-wide synaptic upscaling. This work highlights the importance of synaptic activity in initiating signalling cascades that mediate upscaling. Moreover, our findings challenge the prevailing view that upscaling functions to homeostatically stabilize firing rates.National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship (09-603)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship (08-593)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (Fellowship DGE-0333411)Emory University (NI SPINR Fellowship