Resumen:
Despite many interventions, science education remains highly inequitable throughout the world. Among all life sciences fields, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology suffer from the strongest underrepresentation of racial and gender minorities.
Internet-enabled project-based learning (PBL) has the potential to reach underserved
communities and increase the diversity of the scientific workforce. Here, we demonstrate
the use of lab-on-a-chip (LoC) technologies to train Latinx life science undergraduate
students in concepts of computer programming by taking advantage of open-loop cloud-
integrated LoCs. We developed a context-aware curriculum to train students at over 8,000 km from the experimental site. We showed that this approach was sufficient to develop programming skills and increase the interest of students in continuing careers in
Bioinformatics. Altogether, we conclude that LoC-based Internet-enabled PBL can
become a powerful tool to train Latinx students and increase the diversity in STEM.
