Education & Outreach Unit

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ABSTRACT (EDUCATION AND OUTREACH UNIT) The mission of the Education and Outreach Unit of the CR-PSOC is two-fold: first, to educate the next generation of transdisciplinary scientists that will be capable of extending and integrating the perspectives and approaches of the physical sciences to complex scientific problems in the field of cancer research; and second, to promote broad dissemination of integrated physical sciences oncology research. The Unit will deploy a holistic approach to helping students and postdocs develop the skills and knowledge base required to apply physical science perspectives to cancer research, ranging from the creation of new training modules to a digital knowledge base to immersive experiences and communal activities. This approach will include an annual Cancer Research Workshop series, a Summer Undergraduate Research Program, and a digital repository for videotaped seminars and workshops on the Center website. Many of these activities will serve a dual purpose by providing an opportunity to disseminate this knowledge to the broader scientific community. In addition, the Unit will fund cross-training of young investigators through participation in external courses, workshops and conferences. The Unit will host a biannual Career Development Workshop to assist Center graduate students and postdocs in identifying and progressing towards their career goals. Integration of graduate students, postdocs and junior faculty into the Center and PS-ON will be achieved through participation in a semi-annual center meeting featuring talks and a poster session and participation in the Annual PS-ON Investigators meeting. The goals of the Center's outreach activities are designed to maximally leverage the Center's central location in Chicago. They will include annual Physical Science-Oncology Workshops aimed at clinicians and cancer researchers across the metropolitan Chicago area; a symposium on the convergence of the physical sciences and cancer research at the 2015 annual AACR meeting; a content-rich Center website; annual public roundtable discussions regarding the activities of the Physical Science-Oncology Network, and press releases and videos sharing news of Center discoveries. The Unit will also support a competitive outreach project program that will foster collaboration with investigators outside of the PS-ON and provide access to methodologies and instrumentation not available within the Center. The Unit has developed metrics for evaluation of all education and outreach activities that will be tracked and analyzed annually to determine the efficacy of these programs and activities.