Computational Biology Peer Mentor Network (2026-2029)
The three-year Computational Biology Peer Mentor Network (PMN) consists of about 20 early- and mid-career faculty in computational biology and bioinformatics at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). The goal of the program is to improve faculty’s connections to the discipline, reduce their isolation at small institutions, and equip them with career advancement strategies for their next steps. Participants will be invited to two in-person workshops, one virtual workshop, and have monthly cohort-building virtual meetings with a small group of faculty (Alliance Meetings). These monthly meetings will have guiding prompts but are designed for the alliance groups to develop a mentoring relationships; reporting from alliance meetings help set the workshop agendas (e.g., navigating interdisciplinary duties, team-teaching, and finding time for research).
As a group, participants of the PMN will:
- Get to know each other over the course of three years through in-person workshops, a virtual workshop, and monthly virtual meetings.
- Clarify individual career goals and learn how to make progress towards those goals.
- Learn about and share educational resources for teaching and undergraduate research mentoring (e.g., through ). There will be a focus on computational image analysis for some materials, but it is not required that participants make use of them.
The PMN is designed to be flexible, and topics will be shaped by the participants' interests and goals.
The PMN is organized by Anna Ritz, a professor at ÈËÆÞÓÕ»ó College, and is funded by the National Science Foundation through the Division of Biological Infrastructure.
Overview & Timeline
| August 4 & 5, 2026 | In-Person Workshop, Portland, OR | Introductory in-person workshop to introduce participants to the PMN, build rapport with alliance partners, and be introduced to teaching resource platform. |
| Academic Year 2026-2027 | Monthly Alliance Meetings | Alliance groups will consist of approximately 5 faculty in the PMN. They will meet virtually every month. |
| Summer 2027 | Virtual Workshop | Virtual professional development workshop, with a special session on career coaching facilitated by Dr. Vicki Baker. |
| Academic Year 2027-2028 | Monthly Alliance Meetings | Alliance groups will consist of approximately 5 faculty in the PMN. They will meet virtually every month. |
| Summer 2028 | In-Person Workshop, location TBD | Final in-person workshop addressing emergent needs (informed by participant feedback). |
Participant Eligibility
The PMN is designed for faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) within the United States who teach some combination of biology and computational concepts.- Participants many include faculty in the sciences whose bioinformatics and computational biology tools in their teaching and research, or faculty in computer science / math who use applications to biology in their teaching and research.
- The PMN is intended for faculty teaching at small or under-resourced institutions. This includes liberal arts schools, community colleges, and small public institutions who primarily serve undergraduates.
- Faculty at all career stage levels (pre-tenure, tenured, and visiting) are encouraged to apply. If there are many applications, early-career (pre-tenure or visiting) faculty and recently-tenured faculty will be prioritized because of the career development training.
Commitment and Compensation
Participants are expected to attend two in-person workshops the summers of 2026 and 2028 (the first will be in Portland, OR in early August 2026). There is no registration fee, and participants will be able to reimburse travel expenses (between $600-800, depending on the number of participants) for each in-person workshop.
Participants are expected to attend a virtual workshop in summer 2027. They will be given $200 stipends for attending the virtual workshop.
Participants are expected to virtually meet with their Alliance on a monthly basis throughout the academic years 2026/27 and 2027/28. These meetings will continue the network-building and goal-setting efforts from the workshops, and will help provide informal support during the school years.
Finally, participants will be expected to complete occasional surveys about the effectiveness and outcomes of the Alliance Meetings, the PMN structure, and the helpfulness of the educational resources.
How to Apply
Fill out the brief application by TBD for consideration; participants will be notified by TBD.Application Link: TBD
Email Anna at aritz@reed.edu if you have any questions.
Additional Resources and Information
The PMN is inspired by , a regional peer-to-peer mentoring network for mid-career women STEM faculty and administrators.
Previous workshops for comptuational biology faculty in the liberal arts were held in summer 2023 in Oregon and in .
The BioQUEST offers additional support to share and improve open education resources.
There is a very active Slack workspace, courtesy of April Wright at Southeastern Louisiana University.
aritz-at-reed-dot-edu
Curriculum Vitae 