IGERT Formal Proposal

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of a multidisciplinary graduate training program of education and research in computational neuroscience. The goal is to train a cohort of young investigators to move seamlessly between theoretical and experimental work in the neurosciences. We will serve two populations of students: a) those wishing to move from the physical sciences and mathematics into biology, and b) those with prior experience in biology or psychology who wish additional training in exploiting and implementing quantitative methods for the analysis and modeling of neurobiological data. There will be 18 training faculty from 6 academic departments (biology, biochemistry, chemistry, physics, computer science, and psychology) united by an interest in training students to use quantitative methods to understand the brain and behavior. New courses and training programs will be developed and established. All trainees will have both an experimental and theoretical mentor. Research aims include: 1) developing models of cellular processes, 2) understanding the functional consequences of short-term plasticity of synapses, 3) modeling memory, 4) modeling visual processes, 5) studying motor control, and 6) understanding oscillatory and rhythmic processes.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to facilitate the establishment of innovative, research-based graduate programs that will train a diverse group of scientists and engineers to be well-prepared to take advantage of a broad spectrum of career options. IGERT provides doctoral institutions with an opportunity to develop new, well-focussed multidisciplinary graduate programs that transcend organizational boundaries and unite faculty from several departments or institutions to establish a highly interactive, collaborative environment for both training and research. In this second year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. This specific award is supported by funds from the Directorates for Biological Sciences, for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Office of Multidisciplinary Activities), and for Education and Human Resources.