Convergent Graduate Training in Engineering, Physics and Biology

 描述(由申请者提供)：该项目名为“工程、物理和生物学的融合研究生培训”，将培训学生应用工程和物理的实验、计算和理论方法来应对生命科学中的重大挑战。学员将通过8个参与的系/项目(生物医学工程、化学和环境工程、机械工程和材料科学、应用物理、物理、分子生物物理和生物化学、分子、细胞和发育生物学以及计算生物学和生物信息学)进入。我们寻求每年6个学生名额的资金，我们将用这些资金每年资助3名学生，在他们的第二和第三年。大学的政策是支持所有第一年的学生。我们将招收同等数量的工程/物理和生物实习生。受训者将发展学科和跨学科的专业知识，以及与来自不同学科的同事合作和沟通的能力。为了让所有学生迅速掌握基本知识，我们将提供生物学、数学和计算方面的入门读物，新生将根据需要学习这些入门读物。学员将学习一门创新的、通用的课程，由具有不同但互补背景的教师共同教授，其中许多人都有研究合作。课程包括生物成像、系统生物学和生物物理学，强调实验、计算和理论的相互联系的作用--跨越所有长度的尺度。所有课程都促进学生协作和同行学习。例如，在综合研讨会课程中，具有工程或物理背景的学生与具有生物学背景的学生一起学习需要他们综合技能的模块。课程安排是为了让学员在第二年结束前完成培训课程和国内系课程要求，这样就不会增加攻读博士学位的时间。我们建议的培训计划的一个显著优势是，它将受益于大学的支持、部门的支持、招聘、招生和职业服务基础设施，以及为主任和联席主任于2009年启动的五年试点计划--物理与工程生物学综合研究生计划--设立的新的跨学科课程。我们有吸引强大申请者的历史，目前有45名学生参加了该项目(2009-2014年；2009名学生中有3/4已经毕业；第四名学生计划于2015年8月毕业)，其中28人符合培训补助金条件(其中2人是URM)。我们建议的计划包含了增强的战略，通过这些战略进一步增加我们的申请者池的数量、质量和多样性。我们还制定了一些衡量标准和方法来评估我们计划的有效性。总而言之，培训计划是为了确保完成培训计划的学员将具备领导生物医学研究工作以促进美国公共健康的卓越装备。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The program, "Convergent Graduate Training in Engineering, Physics and Biology", will train students to apply experimental, computational and theoretical approaches from engineering and physics to address grand challenges in the life sciences. Trainees will enter through 8 participating departments/programs (Biomedical Engineering; Chemical and Environmental Engineering; Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Applied Physics; Physics; Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry; Molecular, Cellular, and Development Biology, and Computational Biology & Bioinformatics). We seek funding for 6 student slots per year, which we will use to fund 3 students per year, in their 2nd and 3rd years. It is University policy to support all students in their first year. We will recruit equal numbers f engineering/physics and biology trainees. Trainees will develop both disciplinary and interdisciplinary expertise and the ability to collaborate and communicate with colleagues from a variety of disciplines. To rapidly bring all students to common level of basic knowledge, we will offer primers in biology and in mathematics and computation, which incoming students will take as needed. Trainees will study an innovative, common curriculum that is co-taught by faculty with diverse but complementary backgrounds, many of whom have research collaborations. The curriculum encompasses biological imaging, systems biology, and biological physics, emphasizing the interconnected roles of experiment, computation, and theory - across all length scales. All courses promote student collaboration and peer learning. In the Integrated Workshop course, for example, students with an engineering or physics background work with students with a biology background on modules that have been designed to require their combined skills. The program curriculum is crafted so that trainees complete both the training program and home department course requirements before the end of their second year, so that time to PhD is not increased. A significant advantage of our proposed training program is that it will benefit from the university support, departmental buy-in; recruiting, admissions and career services infrastructures; and new interdisciplinary courses put in place for the five year pilot program, Integrated Graduate Program in Physical and Engineering Biology, initiated in 2009 by the Director and co-Directors. We have a proven history of attracting a strong applicant pool, with 45 students currently in the program (2009-2014; 3/4 of 2009 students have graduated; fourth student is scheduled to graduate Aug 2015), 28 of whom are training grant eligible (2 of these are URM). The program we propose incorporates enhanced strategies by which to further increase the number, quality and diversity of our applicant pool. We have also put in place a number of metrics and methodologies for assessing our program's effectiveness. In summary, the training program has been crafted to ensure that trainees who complete it will be superbly equipped to lead biomedical research endeavors to the enhancement of public health in the USA.