IGERT: Language plasticity - Genes, Brain, Cognition and Computation

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award establishes a unique interdisciplinary training program that prepares Ph.D. scientists from cognitive (linguistics, psychology, communication disorders) and biological fields (molecular genetics, behavior genetics, neuroscience) to achieve a unified cognitive-biological understanding of human language development. Innovations from this approach will address societal challenges in education, technology, and health. Intellectual Merit: A full understanding of human language ? including genetic, neural, cognitive and environmental influences that shape language development and recovery from brain injury ? requires linking a vast array of biological and cognitive sciences. Conventional approaches to graduate training produce cognitive and biological language scientists with little technical overlap ? a barrier to communication. Trainees will develop expertise in their home domains and rigorous interdisciplinary training, providing broad and deep knowledge of theories and methods of other domains to communicate, collaborate and innovate in multidisciplinary teams. The training program uses a team-based model, in an environment designed to foster creativity and innovation ? along with integrated coursework and training in how to translate that research to educational, technological, and health applications.Broader Impacts: This IGERT award will prepare a new generation of leaders to conduct (and train others to conduct) the team-based basic and applied research needed to achieve a unified biological-cognitive science of language. Key components include: training to communicate with educators, policy makers and the public in innovative ways that address societal challenges in technology and education; comprehensive efforts to increase participation among historically underrepresented groups in science; and preparing trainees for the increasingly international scientific community through on-site and internet-based opportunities to connect with leading cognitive and biological centers of language research around the world.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 establish new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries, and to engage students in understanding the processes by which research is translated to innovations for societal benefit.