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An interdisciplinary effort to integrate coding into science courses

Nature Computational Science volume 4, pages 803–804 (2024)Cite this article

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The inclusion of computation in undergraduate STEM curricula varies widely, ranging from none at all to fully dedicated courses. We believe that building cyberinfrastructure skills within physical science courses would enhance domain-specific learning objectives and increase student understanding and engagement1,2,3. Programming within a science course, rather than in a standalone coding class, gives students a better understanding of the context for applying computational tools4,5,6.

In line with this teaching strategy, we established Enhancing Science Courses by Integrating Python (ESCIP), a collaborative initiative that promotes the teaching of cyberinfrastructure skills within standard science courses. Python was chosen because it is a widely used, open-source programming language that is common to the scientific research community of physicists, chemists and astronomers, which are the disciplines supported by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s Cottrell Scholars program. ESCIP has evolved from an initial team of eight early-career faculty members to a network of more than 177 scientists with an active Slack channel and a website with teaching resources.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all members of the ESCIP network for their participation in our workshops and online activities. This work was funded by two Cottrell Scholar Collaborative grants from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA): “Development of the Enhancing Science Courses by Integrating Python (ESCIP) Network” (grant number 27048) and “Infusing Computational Science Concepts into STEM Courses through Multidisciplinary Instructor Collaborative Networks” (grant number 27626). The ESCIP workshop at NYU in April 2023 was sponsored by Simons Foundation grant number 839534. The Molecular Sciences and Software Institute (MolSSI) is supported by the US National Science Foundation through grant number CHE-2136142. J.J.F. acknowledges NSF CAREER Award CHE-2043215 and the Center for MAny-Body Methods, Spectroscopies, and Dynamics for Molecular POLaritonic Systems (MAPOL) under subcontract FWP 79715, which is funded as part of the Computational Chemical Sciences (CCS) program by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is a multi-program national laboratory operated by Battelle Memorial Institute for the US Department of Energy under DOE contract number DE-AC05-76RL1830. R.F.T. acknowledges support from the Pittsburgh Foundation (UN2021-121482) and RCSA (28289). G.M.H. acknowledges support from the NIH (R35GM138312). T.L. acknowledges support by NSF grants CHE-2102668, MRI-2320846 and MRI-2320718. G.Y.S. acknowledges the NSF CAREER Award CHE-1848583. C.T.R. acknowledges support from the CATL Scholar Program at Elon University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, New York, NY, USA

    Christina L. Vizcarra

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA

    Ryan F. Trainor

  3. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA

    Ashley Ringer McDonald

  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Elon University, Elon, NC, USA

    Chris T. Richardson

  5. Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Davit Potoyan

  6. MolSSI, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Jessica A. Nash

  7. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina Asheville, Asheville, NC, USA

    Britt Lundgren

  8. Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA

    Tyler Luchko

  9. Department of Chemistry and Simons Center for Computational Physical Chemistry, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Glen M. Hocky

  10. Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Jonathan J. Foley IV

  11. Department of Physics, Tufts University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Medford, MA, USA

    Timothy J. Atherton

  12. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA

    Grace Y. Stokes

Authors
  1. Christina L. Vizcarra
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  2. Ryan F. Trainor
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  3. Ashley Ringer McDonald
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  4. Chris T. Richardson
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  5. Davit Potoyan
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  6. Jessica A. Nash
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  7. Britt Lundgren
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  8. Tyler Luchko
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  9. Glen M. Hocky
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  10. Jonathan J. Foley IV
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  11. Timothy J. Atherton
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  12. Grace Y. Stokes
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Contributions

G.Y.S., C.L.V., J.J.F., G.M.H., A.R.M. and T.L. drafted the article. B.L., R.F.T., D.P., T.J.A. and J.A.N. revised the article. All authors approved the final article.

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Correspondence to Grace Y. Stokes.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Vizcarra, C.L., Trainor, R.F., Ringer McDonald, A. et al. An interdisciplinary effort to integrate coding into science courses. Nat Comput Sci 4, 803–804 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-024-00708-2

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