Collaborative Research: Using the Physics of Living Systems Student Research Network to Transmit Techniques and Train Talent

生命系统物理学(POLS)是一个多样化的领域，由来自不同科学背景的研究人员和学生组成。没有一家机构能够提供既涵盖相关知识领域又为学生提供深入培训的研究和课程的广度和深度。这样的培训对于培养下一代能够为POL做出贡献的研究人员至关重要，他们能够在生物、物理、数学和工程学之间移动。此外，没有一家机构拥有在生物系统中遇到的巨大时间和长度范围内研究极点所需的设备范围。最后，很少有单独的机构能够有效地将科学和工程结合起来，以启发生物医学、制药、机器人和假肢技术，这些技术将由基础POL研究产生。该奖项的活动将允许学生跨机构和在不同学科之间就生命系统进行研究，同时保持物理思维模式(简化的系统、较少的参数、预测模型)并开发新的物理。NSF生命系统物理(POLS)学生研究网络(SRN)致力于团结美国和国际机构(“节点”)从事生命系统物理/生物物理研究的学生和教职员工。这一虚拟网络使本地节点的学生能够利用POL的全球教育和研究机会。在最后一次筹资期间，SRN成员继续推进各自的PORS方案，并发展了有凝聚力的地方社区。学生和教职员工还参加了美国物理学会(APS)3月会议、生物物理学会(BPS)会议和其他科学会议上的SRN年度会议和活动。有了这个奖项，调查团队将开发一系列有针对性的活动，这些活动将在来自不同节点的学生和POL社区之间产生重要的互动和交流。该奖项的主要活动是在节点站点(“动手波兰暑期学校”)开发一套由学生主导的、动手的短期课程。每个节点每年夏季都会举办为期一周的短期课程，为SRN学生提供专业和通用技术的培训，这些技术对PORS各学科都很有用。每个节点将开发一套暑期学校课程，其主题涵盖不同的研究兴趣和能力(例如，显微镜、机器人物理学、图像分析)，目标是来自SRN所有节点和其他机构的学生。这一奖项将帮助开发和赞助短期课程的旅行支持。这些活动将通过本提案以及更广泛的iPOLS SRN中各节点之间的研究交流访问而得到加强。该奖项还将赞助学生参加对学生特定研究领域非常重要的各种科学会议，以及获得关于POL的更广泛的视角。虽然这个SRN寻求保持与生物学、医学和其他相关学科的联系并培养他们的洞察力，但一个强大的SRN将有助于证明基本生命系统研究已经并将继续由物理学家完成。SRN的学生将是下一代研究人员和教育工作者之一，他们将继续这一轨迹。POLS主题形成了学生进入物理学的自然招聘工具，并引起了更广泛的公众、劳动力和管理部门的兴趣。SRN活动和热心的学生将利用这些优势，例如向K-12机构传播这种想法，从而增加学生进入大学POL的流动。该奖项将通过举办研讨会来促进这些活动的协同作用，展示具有非学术职业的SRN校友，从而扩大具有POLS思维的研究人员池。该项目的研究人员将继续将他们研究产生的技术商业化，将这一方面添加到美国POLS的“生态系统”中。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Physics of Living Systems (PoLS) is a diverse field and is composed of researchers and students from varied scientific backgrounds. No single institution can offer the breadth and depth of research and courses that both cover the relevant intellectual landscape and provide in-depth training for students. Such training is critical to create the next generation of researchers who can contribute to PoLS, with the ability to move between biology, physics, mathematics, and engineering. In addition, no single institution has the range of equipment needed to study PoLS on the enormous range of time and length scales encountered in biological systems. Finally, few single institutions can fruitfully integrate science and engineering to inspire biomedical, pharmaceutical, robotic, and prosthetic technologies that will result from basic PoLS research. This award’s activities will allow students to work across institutions and among various disciplines on living systems while maintaining the physics mindset (simplified systems, few parameters, predictive models) and developing new physics. The NSF Physics of Living Systems (PoLS) Student Research Network (SRN) strives to unite students and faculty working on the physics of living systems/biological physics at institutions ("nodes") within the US and internationally. This virtual network gives students at local nodes the ability to take advantage of global educational and research opportunities in PoLS. During the last period of funding members of the SRN continued to advance their respective PoLS programs and developed cohesive local communities. Students and faculty also participated in the SRN-wide annual meetings and activities at the American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, the Biophysical Society (BPS) meeting, and other scientific meetings. With this award, the team of investigators will develop a focused set of activities that will generate significant interactions and exchange between students from different nodes and the POLS community. The primary activity of this award is to develop a set of student-led, hands-on, short courses at node sites ("Hands-On PoLS Summer Schools"). Short courses will be held for a week each summer at each node and will train SRN students with both specialized and general techniques useful across PoLS disciplines. Each node will develop a suite of summer-school courses with themes that span different research interests and capabilities (e.g., microscopy, robophysics, image analysis), targeted for students from all nodes and other institutions in the SRN. This award will aid development of and sponsor travel support to the short courses. These activities will be augmented by research exchange visits among nodes within this proposal as well as in the broader iPOLS SRN. This award will also sponsor travel to diverse scientific meetings important to the student's specific research areas as well as to gain a broader perspective on PoLS. While this SRN seek to maintain ties to and cultivate insights from biology, medicine, and other relevant disciplines, a strong SRN will help demonstrate that fundamental living systems research has been and will continue to be done by physicists. The SRN students will be among the next generation of researchers and educators who will continue this trajectory. PoLS topics form natural recruitment vehicles for students into physics as well as interest the broader public, workforce, and administration. The SRN activities and eager students will leverage these strengths, for example disseminating such ideas to K-12 institutions, thereby increasing the flow of students into PoLS in universities. This award will promote to synergize these activities by running seminars showcasing SRN alumni with non-academic careers, thereby broadening the pool of researchers with the PoLS mindset. Investigators in this project will continue their commercialization efforts of technologies resulting from their research, adding this aspect to the US PoLS "ecosystem".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.