REU Site: Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering

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The employment of biomedical engineers is projected to grow more than 20% over the period from 2014-2024, creating a critical need for those who can support the design, development and production of new devices, systems, and software used in healthcare. Advances in the biomedical sciences and medicine will increasingly depend upon the application of rigorous and quantitative engineering-based approaches to characterize and interrogate biological systems. This REU Site in Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering at the University of Virginia will train ten undergraduate participants per summer in state-of-the-art systems bioengineering research. While open to a broad national pool of top students in STEM, the Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering REU Site will specifically target talented UGs majoring in STEM fields at institutions with limited research opportunities in the field of systems bioengineering, with an emphasis on recruiting students from underrepresented groups. The research experience and mentorship these REU students will prepare them for work in this fast-growing and pioneering field that would otherwise be unavailable to them at their home institutions. Faculty mentors will maintain continuing relationships with the participants after completing the program, helping to improve the likelihood that the students will remain in STEM. The overarching goal is to train a diverse corps of young scientists from a variety of STEM backgrounds and provide them with the skills, confidence, and mentorship necessary for successful careers in the exciting area of systems bioengineering. Students will be matched with faculty mentors for a 10-week research project, culminating in a paper and public symposium. The students will participate in collaborative, hands-on, and closely mentored projects in the areas of: 1) Molecular Pathways and Cellular Modeling and 2) Tissue-/Organ-/Population-Level Modeling, which will immerse them in a combination of experimentation and computational analyses. Students will acquire the practical skills, knowledge, ethical grounding, and communication skills necessary to be productive in advanced graduate study and be successfully employed in the modern biotechnology industry. The program will also provide students with career advising, grounding in research ethics, training in scientific communication, and ongoing mentorship after completion of the program.