IGERT: Evolutionary, Computational, and Molecular Approaches to Genome Structure and Function

这一多学科的IGERT项目将在进化生物学、功能基因组学和计算生物学领域对研究生进行培训，使他们能够跨越传统学科边界进行富有成效的协作。比较基因组学和功能基因组学的新兴领域将在未来20年重塑生物学研究，并对医学和人类健康、农业、工程学以及我们对生命起源和生物之间关系的理解产生深远的影响。这些新兴学科的研究需要具有不同进化、分子生物学和计算机科学背景的科学家之间的协调互动，但目前大多数大学的院系界限并不促进这些领域之间的互动。亚利桑那大学的IGERT综合培训计划旨在应对这些挑战。这一计划包括咨询、研究轮换和座谈、两门让学生亲自动手解决问题的新的多学科课程、额外的讲座和实验室课程、伦理学培训、每月一次的讨论小组、与来访科学家互动的机会、一年两次的迷你研讨会、指导本科生研究的机会，以及在其他学术机构或领先的基因组公司的非现场实习。最后，培训计划包括一项招收少数族裔本科生和研究生进入理科的战略，利用亚利桑那州的西语裔和美洲原住民人口。一些拟议的培训举措建立在现有结构的基础上，另一些则是全新的。亚利桑那大学特别适合这个培训项目，因为它在进化论、功能基因组学和计算方面的现有优势，一个强大的研究生项目，以及机构对跨学科项目的承诺。此外，该项目的个人参与者在培训学生方面有着长期的成功记录，并致力于多学科合作。拟议的联合三个研究领域的培训计划的影响将是为下一代生物学家配备应对基因组规模研究挑战的工具。IGERT是一个NSF范围的计划，旨在应对培养具有多学科背景以及未来职业需求所需的技术、专业和个人技能的博士科学家和工程师的挑战。该项目旨在通过建立新的、创新的研究生教育和培训模式，在一个超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，催化研究生教育的文化变革。在该计划的第四年，22个机构被授予奖项，这些机构的项目共同涵盖了NSF支持的所有科学和工程领域。这一具体奖项的知识重点位于生物科学、工程、计算机和信息科学与工程以及教育和人力资源理事会。

This multidisciplinary IGERT program will train graduate students in areas at the interface of evolutionary biology, functional genomics, and computational biology in a way that will enable them to collaborate productively across traditional disciplinary boundaries. The emerging fields of comparative and functional genomics will reshape biological research in the next twenty years and have a profound impact on medicine and human health, agriculture, engineering, and our understanding of the origin of life and the relationships among living organisms. Research in these emerging disciplines requires the coordinated interaction of scientists with diverse backgrounds in evolution, molecular biology, and computer science, yet current departmental boundaries at most universities do not foster interactions among these areas. The comprehensive IGERT training plan at the University of Arizona is intended to meet these challenges. This program includes advising, research rotations and colloquia, two novel multidisciplinary courses that engage students in hands-on problem solving, additional lecture and laboratory courses, training in ethics, a monthly discussion group, opportunities to interact with visiting scientists, bi-annual mini-symposia, opportunities to mentor undergraduates in research, and offsite internships at other academic institutions or at leading genomics companies. Finally, the training plan includes a strategy to recruit both minority undergraduate and graduate students into science, drawing on the Hispanic and Native American populations in Arizona. Some of the proposed training initiatives build on existing structures; others are entirely new. The University of Arizona is particularly well suited for this training program because of existing strengths in evolution, functional genomics, and computation, a strong graduate program, and an institutional commitment to interdisciplinary programs. Moreover, the individual participants in this program have a long track record of success in training students and a commitment to multidisciplinary collaborations. The impact of the proposed training program uniting three research areas will be to equip the next generation of biologists with the tools to tackle the challenges of genome-scale research.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing new, innovative models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fourth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-two institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. The intellectual foci of this specific award reside in the Directorates for Biological Sciences; Engineering; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; and Education and Human Resources.