Clinical Research Experience for Engineers (CREE)(RMI)

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This application proposes a new undergraduate training program entitled "Clinical Research Experience for Engineers." The objective of the CREE program is to provide undergraduate bioengineers with the interdisciplinary training needed to prepare them for addressing complex biomedica! and health care problems in their careers. With the recent addition of an undergraduate Bioengineering program at University of Washington (UW), the opportunity now exists to extend and expand the interdisciplinary culture of the Bioengineering Department at the UW into the undergraduate curriculum. The current undergraduate Bioengineering curriculum focuses on providing the students with didactic courses in engineering and biological sciences fundamentals plus intensive research and design projects. The majority of the current research projects done by undergraduates in Bioengineering focus on engineering and basic science problems. The proposed CREE program would provide the opportunity for 12 undergraduate engineers each year to do a three-month clinical research project during the summer between their junior and senior years. They would be co-mentored by a bioengineering faculty member and a clinical faculty member. During their summer traineeship, in addition to their research project, they would also participate in a one-week course on medical diagnostics, a weekly communication skills workshop, lectures on research safety and ethics, and a seminar series. It is anticipated that in many cases the CREE summer research project will evolve into the student's senior capstone project. The hands-on clinical summer research projects will provide the students with an understanding of the challenges and opportunities in health care, allowing them to see how they can contribute to solving complex clinical problems via new software, instruments, devices, drugs, procedures, technologies, etc. This, in combination with the existing undergraduate curriculum, will provide Bioengineering students at the UW with the interdisciplinary training they need to move on to Ph.D., M.D. and M.D./Ph.D.graduate programs at leading universities or to engineering jobs in the biomedical industry.