Allen Institute Education and Engagement Program: Goals, successes, and lessons learned 2694

Abstract Description The Allen Institute is an independent nonprofit research institute focusing on neuroscience, cell biology, and immunology. The Institute practices open science, publicly releasing data, analysis tools, protocols, and other resources. While primarily intended for research applications, they have high utility in educational settings. The goal of the Education & Engagement Program is to educate, engage, and inspire learners by empowering the use of open science resources. Our programs include field trips in our new teaching lab for high school, undergraduate, and community learning groups, our Teacher Academy professional development (PD) series for high school and undergraduate educators, curricula that support using Allen Institute open resources for teaching, trainings and tutorials for working scientists, public outreach, and more. We evaluate our impact via surveys, structured feedback activities/in-program focus groups, and informal participant comments. Both student and faculty participants on field trips report increases in subject matter knowledge, awareness of STEM career paths, and students’ sense of belonging. PD participants feel connected to each other and express confidence in applying what they have learned. All audiences emphasize the value of interaction with Allen Institute scientific staff. These and other evaluation results inform improvements to existing programs and new directions. Funding Sources The Education & Engagement Program receives support from NSF 2236366 and NIH/NINDS 1U24NS133077. Topic Categories Immunology Education and Communication (EDU)