IGERT - Entrepreneurship at the Interface of Polymer Science and Medicinal Chemistry

这一IGERT项目满足了美国对能够将研究成果转化为新技术和新业务的顶尖科学家的长期需求。它将优秀的跨学科科学教育与创业和商业培训结合在一起。来自密西西比州两所大学的教职员工和学生将组成团队并开发联合项目，探索聚合物科学和药物化学如何协同扩展制造和评估新材料、新生物活性物质和生物材料新应用的方法。参与者将集中在密西西比大学的药物科学学院和南密西西比大学的聚合物和高性能材料学院。他们将通过研究项目、商业和企业家精神的广泛教育，以及与美国和海外行业的互动而联系在一起。学术价值的具体组成部分包括：结合医药/制药科学和聚合物材料的基础研究项目；涉及学生-教学-学生、研讨会、研讨会、短期课程、工业实习和国际经验的以学科为中心的跨学科和创业教育；以及通过团队建设活动、视频会议加上联合提案、演示文稿、出版物和商业计划不断加强学科和创业组成部分。该项目的广泛影响在于正在开发的材料和方法，以及项目和商业计划的实施方式：在州内，将两个优秀的项目结合在一起，在真正具有创新和社会意义的科学界面上进行教学和研究；在美国，通过开发一种成功的科学研究和教学模式，将商业和企业主义的结构化教育、培训和实践经验独特地结合在一起；在世界范围内，通过向其他国家的学生和工业从业者和其他学科学习和教授。参加该计划的学生将能够在毕业时或毕业前创建自己的公司，并成为更大的公司研发团队中高效的成员。开发的方法和教育材料还将通过讲习班、研讨会、书籍和培训手册以及远程学习课程和学位，向当地社区成员、州内和全国各地的行业成员以及各地大学的学生和教职员工提供。预计这个IGERT项目将成为科学和创业教育相结合的典范，对密西西比州的其他项目产生直接和长期的影响，并将产生新的业务，促进该州的经济发展和各地的生活质量。IGERT是一个NSF范围的项目，旨在应对培养具有跨学科背景、选定学科的深厚知识以及未来职业需求所需的技术、专业和个人技能的美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战。该项目旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训新模式，在超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，催化研究生教育的文化变革。在该计划的第六个年头，由NSF支持的共同跨越科学和工程领域的项目将被授予机构奖项。

This IGERT program addresses America's long-term need for top-notch scientists capable of translating research results into new technologies and new businesses. It combines excellent interdisciplinary science education with entrepreneurial and business training. Faculty and students from two Mississippi universities will form teams and develop joint projects exploring how polymer science and medicinal chemistry can synergistically extend the methods of making and evaluating new materials, new bioactive agents and new applications of biomaterials. Participants will be centered in the School of Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Mississippi and the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at the University of Southern Mississippi. They will be tied together through research projects, broad education in business and entrepreneurialism, and interactions with industry in the US and abroad. Specific components of the intellectual merit include: Basic research projects coupling medicinal/pharmaceutical science and polymeric materials; Discipline-centered, interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial education involving students-teaching-students, workshops, seminars, short-courses, industrial internships and international experiences; and Continuous reinforcement of the discipline and entrepreneurial components by team-building activities, video conferencing plus joint proposals, presentations, publications and business plans.Broader impact of this program is inherent in the materials and methods being developed, and in how the projects and business plans are implemented: Within the state, bringing together two excellent programs to teach and do research at a truly innovative and socially important science interface; Within the US, by developing a successful model for research and teaching in science that uniquely combines structured education, training and hands-on experience in business and entrepeneurialism; and World-wide, through learning from and teaching students and industrial practitioners in other countries and other disciplines.Students experiencing this program will be able to start their own companies, perhaps even at or before graduation, and to be highly effective members of larger company research and development teams. The methods and education materials developed will also be made available to members of the local community, industry in the state and throughout the nation, and students and faculty at universities everywhere through workshops, seminars, books and training manuals, and distance-learning courses and degrees. It is expected that this IGERT program will serve as a model for integration of science and entrepeneurial education that have immediate and long-term impact on other programs in Mississippi, and will result in new businesses that will enhance economic development in the state and quality of life everywhere.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In this sixth year of the program, awards are being made to institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.