IGERT: MultiScale Transport in Environmental and Physiological Systems (MultiSTEPS)

在细胞、有机体和环境水平上，生物系统中的流体运动等运输过程是诸如靶向药物递送、防止癌细胞转移和控制病原体通过生物圈传播等挑战的关键方面。生物运输中关键问题的发现、分析和解决需要新一代真正的跨学科研究人员，他们既接受过工程教育，也接受过生物学教育，他们将这些观点融合在一起，并能与其他研究人员、政策制定者和公众进行有效的沟通。MultiSTEPS综合研究生教育和研究培训（IGERT）计划建立了跨学科研究和教育的可持续框架，将为未来的学术和工业研究领导者做好准备，以合作，分析和解决工程和生物科学交叉的交通运输新问题。学员通过跨学科课程、同伴互动、社区发展和跨学科研究经验的系统多步骤过程，包括在道德和专业发展方面的正式培训，取得进步。培训包括跨学科教育，包括课程作业和教学经验、社区建设互动研讨会、跨学科研究轮岗、国际研究机会、与行业的互动，以及学员之间独特的内部合作资助竞争。以弗吉尼亚理工大学工程多样性增强中心的资源为基础，MultiSTEPS项目将招募和留住未来创新者的多样化人口，并为他们提供必要的多学科知识工具和方法，以解决人类健康、可持续农业和环境实践方面的复杂和具有挑战性的问题。IGERT是一项nsf范围内的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战，他们具有跨学科背景，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模式，在一个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。

Transport processes such as fluid motion in biological systems at cellular, organismal and environmental levels are a key aspect of such challenges as targeted drug delivery, preventing cancer cell metastasis, and controlling pathogen spread through the biosphere. The discovery, analysis, and solution of critical issues in biological transport requires a new generation of truly interdisciplinary researchers who are educated in both engineering and biology, who merge these perspectives, and who can communicate effectively with fellow researchers, policy makers, and the public. The MultiSTEPS Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program establishes a sustainable framework of interdisciplinary research and education that will prepare future leaders of academic and industrial research to collaborate on, analyze and solve emerging problems in transport that are at the intersection of the engineering and biological sciences. Trainees advance through a systematic multi-step process of interdisciplinary coursework, peer interaction, community development and cross-disciplinary research experiences, including formal training in ethics and professional development. Training involves cross-disciplinary education through coursework and teaching experiences, community-building interactive seminars, interdisciplinary research rotations, international research opportunities, interaction with industry, and a unique internal collaborative grant competition among the trainees. Building upon the resources of Virginia Tech's Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity, the MultiSTEPS program will recruit and retain a diverse population of future innovators and equip them with the multidisciplinary intellectual tools and methods necessary to tackle complex and challenging problems in human health, and sustainable agricultural and environmental practices. 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.