REU Site: Nature's machinery through the prism of physics, biology, chemistry and engineering

REU Site奖授予位于南卡罗来纳州克莱姆森的克莱姆森大学，将在2019-2021年夏季为10名学生提供为期10周的培训。项目参与者与教师、博士后、研究生和其他本科生合作开展合作研究，通过物理、生物、化学和工程的棱镜探索生物学(例如，对淀粉样蛋白聚集的分子洞察的计算和实验方法，研究错义突变如何影响蛋白质-DNA结合亲和力，以及量化细胞骨架蛋白质的活性聚合物网络和凝胶的性质)。重点是跨学科培训；虽然每个参与者都有一个特定的项目，有他们自己的导师，但参与者是配对的，在更大的协作中一起工作。该计划包括生物物理学训练营、系列研讨会、关于研究工具和专业发展的研讨会、期刊俱乐部、校外实地考察、道德培训和队列建设活动。参与者定期向合作者展示他们的贡献，并听取他们同行的研究。在最后一次夏季研究研讨会上，每个参与者都在合作者的海报旁边展示了自己的工作海报，撰写了自己的研究手稿，并被鼓励在科学会议上展示自己的工作。参加者还参加了整个夏季的外联活动。预计共有30名学生将在该计划中接受培训，这些学生主要来自研究机会有限的学校和代表人数较少的少数群体。该项目旨在让参与者了解物理学家可以为生物学做出的共同贡献，以及生物学家可以为物理学做出的贡献。学生将学习研究是如何进行的，许多人将在科学会议上展示他们的工作成果。将使用生物基础设施司资助的所有REU站点方案使用的通用网络评估工具来确定培训方案的有效性。项目结束后，将对学生进行跟踪，以确定他们的职业道路。学生将被要求回复通过NSF报告系统发送的自动电子邮件。欲了解更多有关该计划的信息，请访问www.clemson.edu/Physitics/biPhysitics-reu，或联系PI(Alper@clemson.edu的Joshua Alper博士)或共同PI(Hugo Sanabria博士的hsanabr@clemson.edu)。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This REU Site award to Clemson University, located in Clemson, SC, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2019-2021. Program participants work with faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and other undergraduates on collaborative research exploring biology through the prism of physics, biology, chemistry and engineering (e.g., computational and experimental approaches for molecular insights into amyloid aggregation, studies of how missense mutations affect protein-DNA binding affinity, and quantifying properties of active polymer networks and gels from cytoskeletal proteins). The focus is on cross-disciplinary training; while each participant has a specific project with their own mentor, participants are paired to work together within a larger collaboration. The program includes a biophysics boot-camp, seminar series, workshops on research tools and professional development, journal club, off-campus field trips, ethics training, and cohort-building activities. Participants regularly present their contributions to collaborators and hear about the research of their peers. Each participant presents a poster of their own work adjacent to their collaborator's poster at the final summer research symposium, writes their own research manuscript, and is encouraged to present their work at scientific conferences. Participants also engage in outreach activities throughout the summer. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities and from underrepresented minority groups, will be trained in the program. The program is designed to give participants a sense of the mutual contributions that physical scientists can make to biology, and that biologists can make to the physical sciences. Students will learn how research is conducted, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU Site programs funded by the Division of Biological Infrastructure will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. Students will be tracked after the program to determine their career paths. Students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information about the program is available by visiting www.clemson.edu/physics/biophysics-reu, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Joshua Alper at alper@clemson.edu) or co-PI (Dr. Hugo Sanabria at hsanabr@clemson.edu).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.