IGERT: The Interdisciplinary Minerals, Metals, Metalloids, and Toxicity (3MT) Graduate Training and Education Program

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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 Minerals, Metals, Metalloids, and Toxicity (3MT) at Stony Brook University. The 3MT program will train a new generation of scientists who will work at the interface of environmental and life sciences to understand how minerals, metals and metalloids affect biological processes that ultimately impact on the health of human and animals. Interdisciplinary research teams, advised by faculty drawn from the departments of Geosciences, Pharmacological Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Marine Sciences, Biochemistry, Pathology, and Medicine, will address specific research questions related to the theme. In addition, the 3MT program will collaborate with a team of USGS scientists leading the agencys new, nation-wide and decade-long initiative to assess the interaction between humans and their surficial environment. Through this collaboration, students will conduct their research in the context of a nation-wide environmental program. The 3MT Program will offer new modular courses and workshops. The workshops will provide training in practical skills in support of research projects and prepare students for careers as interdisciplinary scientists. 3MT students will organize an annual regional gathering for graduate scholars from related training programs in the greater New York Metropolitan area. 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.