AR Tech-DaSH: Arkansas Technology and Data Science in Health and Medicine - Arkansas Technology and Data Science in Health and medicine (AR Tech-DaSH) is a partnership between the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and high school students and teachers primarily in northwest (NW) Arkansas. The program targets the underserved and underrepresented population of students in NW Arkansas and is structured around technology and data science outreach in the classroom and community as well as statewide virtual classroom outreach and teacher training workshops. The overall objective is to increase STEM content knowledge and promote more positive beliefs and attitudes towards STEM and data science with the ultimate goal of promoting a more diverse STEM workforce. The program revolves around three major health concerns prevalent in the NW Arkansas regional population (i.e., cardiovascular, obesity/diabetes, and immunology/cancer). The three specific aims of this project are to: Aim 1. Increase the interest and knowledge of high school students for STEM related fields and careers with a focus on data science. The program uses hands on imaging technology and data science analytic experiences to stimulate student interest in STEM and data science careers. Visits to 9th grade classes at schools in both rural and urban districts in NW Arkansas will provide students with valuable experience using a variety of medical related technologies (e.g., stethoscopes, ultrasound, infrared, and computerized tomography (CT) imaging) and data science focused activities. A ten-day AR Tech-DaSH camp for 25 students each year will provide an integrated exposure to medical related skills, anatomical basis of disease, clinician-patient simulations, research and case-based discussions of the three thematic diseases. A major focus of the camp is to provide students with an exposure to data science skills (exploratory data analysis, data transformation, data mining, and machine learning) using health or medicine related datasets. The camp includes near peer mentoring by medical and undergraduate students, and lunch panel discussions with STEM role models. High school level data science modules will be developed and piloted with select groups of high school students. Aim 2. Increase STEM and data science knowledge in the community. Students who attend camp will be designated as STEM Ambassadors and will design and implement outreach events in their school districts with input from the community stakeholders. The community events will focus on health and medicine and the value of data science in making important life decisions. Aim 3. Increase student and teacher knowledge of health and medicine and data science across the state through implementation of a virtual outreach model. Virtual outreach sessions will be provided to rural classrooms across the state. Virtual teacher training workshops will show teachers how to incorporate imaging and data science into their classroom curriculum. The successful implementation of AR Tech-DaSH will serve as a model for using technology and data science to promote STEM in diverse populations to ensure a future STEM workforce that better reflects the US population.
