FlyBoard offered funding to five outreach programs aiming to increase early career scientist participation, equity, and diversity in the Drosophila research community.
Stephen Klusza, Genomics Education Partnership
The Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) is a 140+ faculty collective that provides undergraduate students with bioinformatic CUREs on manual gene annotation in multiple Drosophila fruit fly species. As part of a global initiative to increase accessibility and diversity retention, GEP is working to translate their “Understanding Eukaryotic Genes” modules on manual gene annotation for undergraduates from English to Spanish. They are also creating accompanying Spanish-language videos. These new materials will be a first step to recruiting and retaining English as a Second Language students in Drosophila research across all postsecondary institutions.
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- Provide paid internships for GEP undergraduate students to translate Understanding Eukaryotic Genes modules from English to Spanish
- Create accompanying module training videos in Spanish for students and faculty
- Mentoring of GEP module translation by Spanish-speaking GEP faculty
We are requesting a $2,000 budget to finance this initiative. Through creation of Spanish GEP modules, we will take the first significant step forward in recruiting and retaining English as a Second Language (ESL) students in Drosophila research across all postsecondary institutions. Successful implementation of this initiative will provide the foundation for future translations of GEP modules to reach additional ESL students and provide them with an exciting experience in genomics research that will significantly increase diversity representation and retention in the Drosophila community.
