REU Site: Imaging in Medicine and Biology for Underrepresented Minorities

需要不同的团队来解决复杂的工程问题。然而，在工程学和其他STEM相关领域缺乏研究机会，阻碍了来自代表性不足群体的本科生将STEM视为一条可行和有益的职业道路。为了改善这种情况，REU的医学和生物学成像网站将为未被充分代表的少数民族(URM)本科生提供一个环境，让他们在各自领域的领导者的指导下，在世界级的跨学科研究环境中完成个人研究项目。代表不足的少数族裔的医学和生物学成像REU网站还将为参与者提供结构化的丰富课程，使学生能够发展在STEM研究生教育中取得成功所需的关键技能(GRE准备、时间管理、口头/书面陈述)。罗彻斯特大学(UR)是这个REU网站的理想地点；它是罗切斯特生物医学超声中心(RCBU)、光学研究所、格尔根数据科学研究所(GIDS)和德尔蒙特神经科学研究所的所在地--其成员将在这个REU网站担任导师。成像对医学(疾病诊断、治疗计划和监测)至关重要，但它也是许多变革性技术背后的推动力，包括机器人、自动驾驶汽车和面部识别。从根本上讲，成像是一个高度多学科的领域，它结合了不同的工程学科(例如，电气工程、计算机科学、物理、化学、材料科学和医学)，创造了一个具有凝聚力的整体。与其他学科一样，人工智能正在改变成像。它需要不同的团队来解决新的挑战，这就要求我们培训和扩大能够对成像科学和工程做出有意义贡献的研究人员的多样性。这一REU项目每年将为10名学生提供计算成像、光学成像和超声成像科学领域令人兴奋的跨学科研究机会，导师范围从工程到计算机科学，从神经科学到微生物学。REU网站计划将组织关于职业发展的研讨会、社区座谈会、选定实验室的科学研究，以及专注于基础医学成像技术的科学编程训练营。学生将定期与专业和研究导师会面，以制定与REU经历中发现的研究兴趣相一致的适当研究生课程的下一步措施。REU网站的参与者将在各自领域的领导人的指导下完成个别项目。在这些项目中，参与者将使用计算、光学或超声成像技术来解决重大的医学和生物学问题。参与者将与他们的专业顾问互动，以揭开研究生院课程的神秘面纱，提高他们的专业技能。其他计划的活动将包括社区座谈会，一个MATLAB编程训练营，向学生传授图像处理技术，如图像分割、主成分分析和多维过滤器设计，这些技术是医学成像的基础。学生将与他们的专业和研究导师合作，制定下一步追求他们的研究兴趣的步骤。建议中的REU的研究导师将教参与者如何开发他们的研究项目；从几种成像方式(功能超声、剪切波弹性成像、生物发光、微型CT、磁共振成像)收集数据；设计图像分析、2D和3D图像重建、计算机视觉的算法；对啮齿动物、细胞培养和体模进行实验；并反复改进解决方案。在为期10周的研究体验结束后，学生们将在一个研究研讨会上向其他学生、导师和UR的研究社区展示他们的研究成果。还将鼓励学生将他们的研究成果提交给国家会议或合著者同行评议的出版物。三个主题研究领域将作为REU网站的基础：1)超声波成像，2)计算成像，3)光学成像。该网站由国防部与NSF REU计划合作支持。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。

Diverse teams are needed to solve complex engineering problems. However, the lack of research opportunities in engineering and other STEM-related fields prevents undergraduates from underrepresented groups from considering STEM as a viable and rewarding career path. To improve this situation, this Imaging in Medicine and Biology for Underrepresented Minorities REU site will provide an environment for underrepresented minorities (URM) undergraduates to complete individual research projects under the mentorship of leaders in their respective fields, in a world-class interdisciplinary research environment. The Imaging in Medicine and Biology for Underrepresented Minorities REU site will also provide structured enrichment programs to participants that will allow students to develop critical skills needed to be successful in STEM graduate education (GRE preparation, time management, oral/written presentation). The University of Rochester (UR) is an ideal setting for this REU site; it is the home of the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound (RCBU), the Institute of Optics, the Goergen Institute for Data Science (GIDS), and the Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience—members of which will serve as mentors in this REU site. Imaging is crucial to medicine (disease diagnosis, treatment planning, and monitoring), but it is also the driving force behind many transformative technologies, including robotics, self-driving cars, and facial recognition. At its foundation, imaging is a highly multidisciplinary field that combines various engineering disciplines (e.g., electrical engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, materials science, and medicine) to create a cohesive whole. Like other disciplines, artificial intelligence is changing imaging. It requires diverse teams to solve new challenges, which requires us to train and expand the diversity of researchers capable of making meaningful contributions to imaging science and engineering. This REU program will provide ten students annually with exciting interdisciplinary research opportunities in computational imaging, optical imaging, and ultrasonic imaging science with mentors in disciplines ranging from engineering to computer science to neuroscience to microbiology. The REU site program will organize workshops on career development, community colloquiums, scientific research in chosen laboratories, and a bootcamp on scientific programming focusing on fundamental medical imaging techniques. Students will regularly meet with professional and research mentors to formulate the next steps regarding appropriate graduate programs that align with research interests discovered during the REU experience. Participants in the REU site will complete individual projects under the mentorship of leaders in their respective fields. In these projects, participants will use computational, optical, or ultrasound imaging techniques to solve significant medicine and biology problems. Participants will interact with their professional advisors to demystify the graduate school program and improve their professional skills. Other planned activities will include community colloquiums, a MATLAB programming bootcamp that teaches students image processing techniques such as image segmentation, principal component analysis, and multidimensional filter design, which are fundamental to medical imaging. Students will work with their professional and research mentors to formulate the next steps to pursue their research interests. Research mentors in the proposed REU will teach participants how to develop their research project; collect data from several imaging modalities (functional ultrasound, shear wave elastography, bioluminescence, micro-CT, magnetic resonance imaging); design algorithms for image analysis, 2D and 3D image reconstructions, computer vision; perform experiments on rodents, cell culture, and phantoms; and iteratively refine the solutions. Students will present their research findings to other students, mentors, and the research community at UR at a research symposium at the end of the 10-week research experience. Students will also be encouraged to submit their research findings to national conferences or co-author peer-reviewed publications. Three thematic research areas will serve as the foundation for this REU site: 1) ultrasonic Imaging, 2) computational Imaging, and 3) optical Imaging.This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.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.