NRT: Soft Materials for Life Sciences

NRT：生命科学软材料这个国家科学基金会研究培训（NRT）奖从事教师和学生在马萨诸塞州阿默斯特大学在一个新的研究生教育模式，汇集了生命科学家，物理科学家和工程师。 为了培养高技能的STEM学生适应21世纪的现代经济，该项目将提供跨多个专业和技术技能领域的培训广度，同时在学员的专业领域发展深度。该计划将为高分子科学与工程，免疫学，食品科学和几个工程领域的硕士和博士生提供服务。该实习预计准备七十四（74）名研究生，其中包括二十八（28）资助的学员，其中许多人将指导他们的职业目标超越研究或学术界在工业，政府和教学密集型专业工作。学员将发展动态的跨学科和专业技能，以促进材料研究的创新，如新的药物输送方法和个性化的健康监测设备。 将聚合物材料应用于生命科学技术挑战的研究主题将成为有意义的跨学科合作的基础。研究主题，从合作研究项目将春天，将具有两个主要集中：工程免疫软材料（使免疫学家与聚合物专家合作）和传感器监测材料（支持工程师和聚合物科学家之间的合作）。培训计划的一个目标是建立T形技能，其中“T”上的竖条代表单个领域相关技能和专业知识的深度，横条是与其他领域专家进行跨学科合作的能力，以及将知识应用于自己专业领域以外的能力。该计划将以密集的“第二年经验”为特色，结合了与研究主题相关的技术主题的跨学科课程，专业发展研讨会和培训活动以及跨学科实验室模块。完成所有要求的学生将获得生命科学软材料研究生证书。应用生命科学研究所促进的与工业界的联系将使受训人员受益，并加强更广泛的科学生态系统。 该项目的成果将是一个经过验证的，经过良好评估的转型研究生培训模式，在培养T型专业人才方面是有效的。在整个NRT项目中进行的科学研究将探索学生在该计划中跨学科合作的动态和有效性。NSF研究培训（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的，新的，潜在的变革性和可扩展的STEM研究生教育培训模型。 该培训轨道致力于在高优先级的跨学科研究领域的STEM研究生的有效培训，通过全面的培训模式，是创新的，以证据为基础，并与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致。

NRT: Soft Materials for Life SciencesThis National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award engages faculty and students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in a new graduate education model that brings together life scientists, physical scientists and engineers. To prepare highly skilled STEM students for the modern economy of the 21st century, the project will provide training breadth across multiple professional and technical skill areas while developing depth in the trainee's area of specialization. The program will serve masters and doctoral students in the disciplines of polymer science and engineering, immunology, food science, and several engineering fields. The traineeship anticipates preparing seventy-four (74) graduate students, including twenty-eight (28) funded trainees, many of whom will direct their career aims beyond research or academia to work in industry, government, and teaching-intensive professional jobs. Trainees will develop dynamic interdisciplinary and professional skills to catalyze innovation in materials research, such as new drug delivery methods and personalized health monitoring devices. The research theme of applying polymeric materials to technical challenges in the life sciences will serve as the basis for meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration. The research theme, from which collaborative research projects will spring, will feature two primary concentrations: Engineering Immunological Soft Materials (enabling immunologists to collaborate with polymer specialists) and Materials for Sensor Monitoring (supporting collaborations between engineers and polymer scientists). A goal of the training program is to build T-shaped skills, in which the vertical bar on the "T" represents the depth of related skills and expertise in a single field, and the horizontal bar is the ability to collaborate across disciplines with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than one's own. The program will feature an intensive "Year Two Experience" that combines an interdisciplinary course in technical topics related to the research theme, professional development workshops and training activities, and interdisciplinary lab modules. Students who complete all requirements will earn a graduate certificate in Soft Materials for Life Sciences. Connections to industry, facilitated by the Institute for Applied Life Sciences, will benefit the trainees and strengthen the broader science ecosystem. The project outcomes will be a demonstrated, well-evaluated model for transformative graduate training that is effective in developing T-shaped professionals. A science-of-science study conducted throughout the NRT project will explore the dynamics and efficacy of interdisciplinary collaboration by students in this program. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative, and scalable models for STEM graduate education training. The Traineeship Track is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas, through the comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.