Convergent Engineering and Biomolecular Science

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PROJECT SUMMARY ─ OVERALL Boise State University is an emerging research institution in the Mountain West. In the past 5 years, annual research awards have increased 58% to more than $65 million. The objective for the proposed COBRE in Convergent Engineering and Biomolecular Science (CEBS) is to enhance Boise State’s ability to contribute to solving the nation’s healthcare needs by increasing convergence between engineering and biomolecular science research. Advancements in healthcare will continue to rely on more evolved and complex devices, sensors, and integrated systems. The global medical devices market is expected to grow to $603.5 billion by 2023. For this advancement, engineers and biomolecular scientists must collaborate closely and create new transdisciplinary research areas. Researchers trained in outside disciplines often bring fresh perspectives, new approaches, and new technologies to the discipline. The overall program aims are to (1) support investigators in multidisciplinary collaborative research in devices, sensors, and systems; (2) establish an administrative core to support convergent research; and (3) form a consolidated Fabrication, Characterization, and Testing (FaCT) core. This COBRE will strengthen the professional development of junior investigators and CEBS related researchers through training workshops in grant writing and scientific publication. Importantly, convergent training workshops in the Science of Team Science will be utilized to improve communication across disciplines to build stronger research teams. Four existing service centers in the College of Engineering will be consolidated into the FaCT core to reduce redundancy, improve fiscal sustainability, and promote a biomedical engineering focus. The FaCT core is innovative because it is an engineering-based research core that is complementary to traditional biomedical research cores. The COBRE will support Pilot Projects and FaCT core vouchers to stimulate CEBS related research and use of the FaCT core. In summary, the CEBS COBRE provides a framework to sponsor strong convergent research among engineers and biomolecular scientists through training workshops, mentoring, networking, and access to a novel engineering core facility.