IGERT: Biological and Bio-inspired Motion Systems Operating in Complex Environments

这一综合性研究生教育和研究培训计划(IGERT)将培训生物和工程专业的学生从自然设计中学习-一个被称为生物灵感的过程。特别是，学员将发现生物体在复杂环境中如何运动的基本原理，并学习将这些原理用作设计人类工程系统的灵感。研究机会的四个重点领域包括运动系统的力学，它们的控制机制，它们的材料的结构和功能，以及它们的进化。一个三阶段的培训计划与研究重点相结合，并由一个新的伯克利中心-CIBER-教育和研究中的跨学科生物灵感中心促进。第一阶段提供定制的核心课程，以开发通用的科学语言，并发现机会，以贡献和受益于生物和生物启发的运动系统。学员将参加一个新的以研究为基础的教学实验室，在那里，生物和工程专业的学生团队一起工作，做出原创的生物力学发现。这一经历将他们过渡到第二阶段，在那里他们开始在“仿生学”网络指导下的领先欧洲研究所进行研究轮换和国际经验。在第三阶段，学生通过创业课程和实习学习发现的应用。开发与不同本科生群体直接联系的渠道将鼓励妇女和代表性不足的群体参与。这次IGERT的受训人员将通过研究推动运动科学领域的发展，带来工程师可能从未考虑过的新发明，如壁虎启发的毛发粘合剂、人造肌肉、新型假肢和搜救机器人。通过与公众分享这些进展，非科学家将更清楚地了解为什么我们必须保护物种及其环境的多样性--在它们的秘密永远消失之前。IGERT是一个NSF范围内的项目，旨在应对培养具有跨学科背景、所选学科的深厚知识以及满足未来职业需求所需的技术、专业和个人技能的美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战。该项目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，催化研究生教育的文化变革。

This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program will train biology and engineering students to learn from natural design - a process termed biological inspiration. In particular, trainees will discover principles that underlie how organisms move in complex environments, and learn to use those principles as inspiration to design human-engineered systems. Four focus areas for research opportunities include the mechanics of systems that locomote, their control mechanisms, the structure and function of their materials, and their evolution. A three-stage training program integrates with the research focus and is facilitated by a new Berkeley center - CiBER - the Center for interdisciplinary Biological-inspiration in Education and Research. Stage 1offers a customized core curriculum to develop a common scientific language, and to discover opportunities to contribute to and benefit from bio- and bio-inspired motion systems. Trainees will participate in a new research-based teaching laboratory where teams of biology and engineering students work together to make original biomechanical discoveries. This experience transitions them into Stage 2 where they begin research rotations and international experiences at leading European institutes guided by a "Bionics" network. In Stage 3, students learn the application of discovery through entrepreneurship courses and internships. Developing direct pipelines to a diverse group of undergraduates will encourage participation of women and underrepresented groups. Trainees in this IGERT will advance the field of motion science with research leading to novel inventions that may never have been considered by engineers such as gecko-inspired hairy adhesives, artificial muscles, new prostheses, and search-and-rescue robots. By sharing these advances with the public, non-scientists will see more clearly why we must preserve the diversity of species and their environments - before their secrets are lost forever. 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.