IGERT: Hybrid Neural Microsystems: Integrating Neural Tissue and Engineered Systems

该IGERT计划的重点是创建一个培训环境，将细胞和系统神经科学与微电子/计算技术和微机电系统（MEMS）相结合。 学科的新组合将导致一个程序，其智力价值体现在集成神经组织和工程组件的系统的开发和应用中。 研究应用范围从增强生物体的知识，到增强受损的神经元组织，再到创建受生物启发的工程系统。 参与的教师有跨学科教育和研究的良好记录，为这一努力奠定了基础。 IGERT计划将建立在这个基础上，通过教育基础设施和跨学科研究机会的结合，这将促进IGERT研究员的培训，他们将从该计划中脱颖而出，成为一个新一代的科学家工程师，了解并能够应用跨越这两个领域的知识，以前完全不同的学科。该计划将通过其教育，征聘和专业发展部分。 教育工作使格鲁吉亚理工学院和埃默里大学的项目之间的互动正规化，从而对生物学和工程学学生进行综合培训，以解决这两个学科交叉的问题。 该计划包括许多相互关联的教育组件，包括顶点混合神经微系统课程，该课程结合了实验室经验，基于问题的学习和隐式辅导。 招聘和保留工作的目标是建立一个潜在的神经科学和工程学生谁是这个程序准备的候选人池。 这些努力将侧重于招聘人数不足的少数民族学生的重要人口，利用格鲁吉亚理工学院，埃默里大学和亚特兰大大学中心学院之间的现有合作关系。 职业发展将通过参与合作的国际经验和工业实习的研究员，加强，在这个过程中，与这些国际和工业合作伙伴的现有关系促进。IGERT是一个NSF范围内的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士的挑战。具有跨学科背景的科学家和工程师，在所选学科的深厚知识，以及未来职业需求所需的技术，专业和个人技能。该计划旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训新模式，在超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中促进研究生教育的文化变革。在该计划的第六个年头，奖项正在颁发给那些共同跨越NSF支持的科学和工程领域的计划机构。

This IGERT program is focused on the creation of a training environment that combines cellular and systems neuroscience with microelectronics/computing technology and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The novel combination of disciplines will result in a program whose intellectual merit is embodied in the development and application of systems that integrate neural tissue and engineered components. Research applications range from enhancing knowledge of living organisms, to augmenting damaged neuronal tissue, to creating biologically-inspired engineered systems. The participating faculty members have a strong track record of interdisciplinary education and research that has laid the foundation for this effort. The IGERT program will build upon this foundation through a combination of educational infrastructure and interdisciplinary research opportunities that will facilitate the training of IGERT fellows, who will emerge from the program as a new breed of scientist-engineer that understands and can apply knowledge that crosses these two, previously disparate disciplines.This program will impact the participating institutions and the broader neuroengineering community through its educational, recruitment, and professional-development components. Educational efforts formalize interactions among programs at Georgia Tech and Emory, resulting in the integrated training of biology and engineering students to address issues at the intersection of these two disciplines. The program includes many interlinked educational components, including the capstone Hybrid Neural Microsystems course, which combines laboratory experience, problem-based learning, and implicit mentoring. The recruitment and retention efforts target the creation of a candidate pool of potential neuroscience and engineering students who are prepared for this program. These efforts will focus on the recruitment of a significant population of under-represented minority students, capitalizing upon existing partnerships between Georgia Tech, Emory, and the colleges of the Atlanta University Center. Career development will be fostered by engaging the fellows in collaborative international experiences and in industrial internships, enhancing, in the process, existing relationships with these international and industrial partners.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, 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 innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In this sixth year of the program, awards are being made to institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.