Interdisciplinary Research Training In Speech-Language Disorders

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a critical shortage of new PhD's in the field of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD). This training grant is designed to address this shortage by preparing researcher-scholars in the field of speech- language disorders in children and adults at one of the top-ranked departments in the country. This competing continuation requests support for five predoctoral students and one postdoctoral fellow to participate in an interdisciplinary training program that draws on faculty and resources in the departments of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Psychology, Educational Psychology, and the Waisman Center. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is perhaps unique in the high level of collaboration among faculty and their students in these different programs, interactions that are facilitated by the existence of the Waisman Center, an interdisciplinary center that supports research on human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, UW-Madison is ideally suited for training students for careers in speech and language disorders given that research and practice in this field must draw on expertise from a variety of fields. The purpose of the proposed training grant is to prepare students for academic careers in the field of speech and language disorders or related disciplines within an interdisciplinary training program. Predoctoral trainees will take formal coursework across different disciplines and will be required to complete two short lab rotations (1 semester each) or one longer lab rotation in addition to working in the lab of their primary advisor. Trainees will be able to select rotations from a number of research programs, including ones in language development, language disorders, language and bilingualism, memory and cognition, social communication deficits in traumatic brain injury, speech perception and production in children and adults, speech sound disorders in children, and neurogenic speech disorders. Experimental methodologies that are available to trainees include acoustic speech analysis, neuroimaging (e.g., MRI/fMRI, DTI), eye-tracking, computational modeling, as well as many behavioral paradigms. In addition to the lab rotation component, value-added training activities for predoctoral students include more rigorous instruction in quantitative methods (statistics), expanded instruction in responsible conduct of research (RCR), mentoring training, journal club, interdisciplinary proseminars, and an Individual Development Plan (IDP). The postdoctoral trainees will engage in the mentoring training, grant writing instruction, journal club, proseminars, and creation of an IDP. Both predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees will take at least one semester-long seminar focusing on the theme of interdisciplinary approaches to science.