Training Opportunities to Augment Learning (TOTAL)

Project Announcement

New Digital Platform Connects Biomedical Trainees to Boston-based Professional Development Events

We are pleased to announce the launch of Training Opportunities To Augment Learning (TOTAL), a digital platform that allows biomedical trainees to sign-up to attend career and professional development events that are held at collaborating institutions in the Boston Area (Boston University, MassBioEd, Northeastern University, Tufts University, UMass Boston and UMass Med). On TOTAL, users can select the skills and career trajectories of interest to them. Then via phone app or email, they will be apprised of those ‘tagged’ events that address their stated interests and they can reserve a spot to attend.

Tips to connect:

Those interested in this free tool that gives access to career and professional development activities in the Greater Boston Area, can make an account here using their University e-mail address: https://mytotalcareer.org/register.

Android: Visit mytotalcareers.org on your phone and there will be a popup with the option to add the App to your Home Screen (with the option after to receive notifications).

iOS: Visit mytotalcareers.org in Safari (this will not work on Google). Click the “share” button in the bottom middle of the Safari screen and click “Add to Home Screen.” Visit here for more instructions on how to add to your iOS phone.

Learn more about TOTAL Career

Project Description

In order to maintain a strong STEM workforce, graduate and postdoctoral training in biomedical research must consider the vast array of research-related careers, and as education has traditionally been directed toward academic research careers, training must be reevaluated and geared toward skill-development for all career options. Here, we developed a technology-driven approach to collaborating and providing access to professional development activities by sharing programming across Boston University departments/colleges as well as other area institutions. Skill-based and career exploration activities will be developed with workforce needs in mind. With data to support feasibility, this web application can potentially be adapted for use by additional Boston area institutions and their trainees, by other regions, by alumni and those in areas without access to professional development opportunities, the latter by making these opportunities available online. In addition, the approach can be applied to professional development opportunities in other disciplines throughout the university.

Project Team

Barbara M. Schreiber; Associate Professor of Biochemistry

Barbara Schreiber serves as director of the GMS Program in Biomedical Sciences (PiBS), director of graduate studies for the Department of Biochemistry, and course manager of the biochemistry class taught to first-year BU dental students and Oral Health Sciences students. Dr. Schreiber is one of the co-PIs on the NIH-funded BU’s BEST award, dedicated to broadening experiences in biomedical science training for our PhD students and post-doctoral trainees. Most recently, she was appointed Assistant Dean, GMS Alumni Affairs.

Deborah Fournier; Assistant Provost, Institutional Research and Evaluation

Deborah M. Fournier, MS, PhD, is Assistant Provost for Institutional Research and Evaluation. She is also Director of Evaluation for the Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the NIH-funded career development award called Broadening Experiences in Biomedical Science Training. She has more than 25 years of field experience in applied social science research, educational program evaluation and research evaluation. Her applied scholarship at Boston University involves collaboration with administrators and faculty to implement good evaluation practices to assess the impact of programs and special projects in ways that can accurately guide operational and strategic decision-making. She serves on the TOTAL APP Project to produce development evaluation of the mobile app and assessment of the collective action framework adopted by its partnering institutions.

Amanda Bolgioni-Smith; Assistant Professor of Medical Sciences & Education

Prior to departing from BU, Amanda was the Associate Director of Evaluation for Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute and earlier was the Director of GMS Professional and Career Development. Her PhD is from BU Pharmacology and she has expertise in the design, implementation, evaluation and management of workforce development programming with graduate students, postdoctoral scholars/fellows and faculty. She collaborated with MDs and PhDs to design and implement evaluation plans and facilitate use of the data to work toward improved outcomes and impact in the areas of workforce development, science innovation and clinical research. She has worked on the design, implementation and launch of the TOTAL App, and has also worked closely with the PI of the project, Barbara Schreiber, and the collaborators to ensure a smooth launch and maintenance of the TOTAL App.

Partners

Linda E. Hyman

Prior to departing Boston University, Linda Hyman, Ph.D., was Associate Provost for the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) at Boston University School of Medicine, where she oversaw ~30 graduate programs supporting ~900 students. In addition to serving on a variety of review committees she was the chair of the AAMC group on GREAT (Graduate Research Education and Training). Dr. Hyman also completed a term at the National Science Foundation as the Director of the Division of Molecular Biosciences. She is interested and active in the national conversation focused on the biomedical workforce training and development.

Hyman was the co-Principle Investigator on an NIH BEST grant and PI on an NSF INCLUDES award. Consistent with these efforts her priorities as Associate Provost included professional development for PhD trainees, supporting the research infrastructure, providing a nurturing environment for all trainees but especially those from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds, and finally in developing programs that focus on critical thinking and support of the nation’s workforce. TOTAL was an initiative born from BU’s BEST as a spin-off of the program and a way to sustain the robust diversity of activities following the completion of the NIH award. Linda was part of the original development planning team for the TOTAL App and as part of the creative process, she coined the name of the grant Training Opportunities to Augment Learning (TOTAL). Hyman currently serves as the Burroughs Wellcome Director of Education at the Marine biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

IT Development Team

Peter Flynn

Peter Flynn, M.S. is a Technical Lead in the Boston University Medical Campus Information Services & Technology group. He possesses many years of experience developing web applications for faculty, researchers, and students using Microsoft technologies. Peter earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics at UMass Amherst and his master degree in Computer Ccience from Boston University.

Syahrial Dahler

Syahrial (AL) is passionate in everything about application development and data science. Al has been working as an application developer for more than 10 years and produced many web applications for multiple industries. He mainly works with .Net frameworks and MS SQ; is now pursuing a Master Studies in Boston University with a major in Computer Science with specialization in Data-Centric Computing.