NRT: A Bioelectronics Incubator for Training Students (BITS) at the Cell/Material Interface

一场重大的技术革命正在兴起，因为研究人员开发了将自然和合成细胞系统与纳米级材料相结合的能力，从而创造出可以进行电子通信的混合细胞和设备。这个新的跨学科领域有可能改变基础科学、工业、医学和我们的生活方式。为了实现这些创新，行业将需要一支跨学科合作的劳动力队伍来开发能够测量、操纵、控制和感知生物体、细胞、分子和反应的生物过程的设备。因为这个行业将改变我们彼此之间的互动方式，这个话题将提出新的政策、经济和环境问题需要解决。美国国家科学基金会授予威廉·马什·莱斯大学的研究培训（NRT）奖将通过培养生物电子学跨学科领域的研究生来解决这些挑战。该项目预计将从工程、自然科学和社会科学博士项目中培养30名博士生，其中包括18名受资助的学员。学生们通常在学科研究生课程中开始训练，在投入大量时间来定义研究问题之后，合作就随之而来了，通常是通过共同指导的学徒制。这种教育模式被认为限制了学生追求的问题种类，因为学生没有准备好有效地融入生物电子学创新所需的团队。为了克服这些限制，这个NRT项目将把团队优先的博士培训教学模式与生物电子学研究结合起来，教育学生过去的跨学科创新、跨学科的理论基础、有凝聚力的团队和社区建设的创建、实现跨学科概念理解的框架，以及理解利益相关者需求的策略。以生物电子学主题为中心的研究活动包括各种各样的主题，例如能够在细胞内进行化学合成的光收集系统，监测神经系统中复杂电信号的仪器，以及与手持设备接口的活体传感器。该培训计划还将提供有效沟通、教学和指导、冲突解决、领导和管理、负责任的研究行为和外展方面的培训。学生将在跨学科团队中工作，以确定生物电子学问题，进行基于团队的研究，并产生联合出版物。团队整合将通过催化剂来实现，包括提案和文章的综合、跨学科教育活动的创建、跨学科研讨会、同行写作小组、细胞/设备制造和测试活动以及改进跨学科沟通技巧的年度活动。美国国家科学基金会研究实习生（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革性的STEM研究生教育培训新模式。该项目致力于通过创新、循证、适应不断变化的劳动力和研究需求的综合培训模式，在高优先级跨学科研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A major technological revolution is emerging as researchers develop the ability to interface natural and synthetic cellular systems with nanoscale materials to create hybrid cells and devices that communicate electronically. This new interdisciplinary field has the potential to transform fundamental science, industry, medicine, and our way of life. To achieve these innovations, industry will require a workforce that collaborates across disciplines to develop devices that enable measurement, manipulation, control and sensing of biological processes of organisms, cells, molecules and reactions. Because this industry will change how we interact with each other, this topic will present new policy, economic, and environmental issues to solve. The National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to William Marsh Rice University will address these challenges by training graduate doctoral students in the interdisciplinary field of bioelectronics. The project anticipates training thirty (30) doctoral students, including eighteen (18) funded trainees, from engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences doctoral programs. Students typically begin training in disciplinary graduate programs, and collaboration follows after investing significant time into defining the research problem, often through co-mentored apprenticeships. This educational model is thought to limit the kinds of questions that students pursue because students are not poised to effectively integrate into the type of teams required for bioelectronics innovation. To overcome these limitations, this NRT program will integrate a team-first pedagogical model for doctoral training with bioelectronics research to educate students about past interdisciplinary innovations, theoretical underpinnings of interdisciplinarity, creation of cohesive teams and community building, frameworks for achieving conceptual understanding across disciplines, and strategies to understand the needs of stakeholders. Research activities centered on bioelectronics themes encompass diverse topics, such as light-harvesting systems that enable chemical synthesis within cells, instruments that monitor complex electrical signaling in the nervous system, and living sensors that interface with handheld devices. This traineeship program will also provide training in effective communication, teaching and mentorship, conflict resolution, leadership and management, responsible conduct in research, and outreach. Students will work in interdisciplinary teams to identify bioelectronics questions, perform team-based research, and generate joint publications. Team integration will be achieved through catalysts, including the synthesis of proposals and articles, the creation of activities for educating others about interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary workshops, peer-writing groups, cell/device fabrication and testing activities, and annual activities that refine interdisciplinary communication skills.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.