IGERT: Integrative Training in Motor Control and Movement

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) project builds links broadly across Chicago's scientific community to develop an integrative training program for U.S. doctoral students in motor control and movement. To develop an integrative understanding of movement, it is necessary to address both the biology and the engineering of the systems involved and how they work together. Students from graduate programs at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University will obtain the biological and engineering backgrounds required to develop the integrative approach needed to take the field in new directions. Educational tools include a boot camp, a three-quarter common core curriculum, a discussion series, required laboratory rotations, and workshops and seminars at the Field Museum. The program will involve outreach to local Chicago-area schools, with training for students and faculty in the development and conduct of effective outreach. Mentoring of undergraduate students by IGERT graduate trainees will be done in close collaboration with local universities that primarily serve underrepresented minorities in the Chicago area. A trans-institutional website will highlight opportunities and results related to this program's IGERT goals and provide resources for teachers and students. 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.