REU Site: Engineering Medical Advances at the Interface of Experiments and Computation

这个为期三年的REU网站，“实验与计算界面的工程医学进展”，在南卡罗来纳大学哥伦比亚分校（USC）为10名本科生参与者提供为期10周的暑期研究经历。学生将在全国范围内招募，并根据他们的学术表现，进行研究的潜力和热情以及未来的研究生涯计划进行选择。招聘对象主要是本科生院校（PUIs），这些院校的学生在其他情况下可能无法获得研究机会，以及少数民族学生比例很高的院校。实验和计算结合的研究将刺激未来的策略，通过预防性保健、早期诊断和治疗来延长生命的长度和质量。拟议中的REU站点将为年轻的研究人员，我们未来的科学领导者，提供跨学科和合作的研究环境，这是理解复杂和错综复杂的生物现象所需要的。除研究外，参与者还将参与科学、专业发展和（生物）医疗产品保护/商业化的丰富活动。计划中的活动将扩大他们对实验和计算研究的接触，重点是战略性地整合这些方法以实现共同目标。REU网站利用在实验和计算界面工作的跨学科教师小组的专业知识，以推进对基本生物现象和生物医学技术的理解。拟议的研究来源于正在进行的，联邦资助的项目以及新建立的涉及初级教师的合作。研究工作利用工程和医学进步的工具和知识来深入了解生物分子、细胞和组织之间的相互作用，以及合成系统和生物结构之间的相互作用。预计学生参与者将与教师和研究生导师以及其他研究人员建立有价值的，持久的关系，这将为他们追求研究事业提供资源和鼓励。有计划的社会活动将在导师和参与者之间建立一种社区意识，并促进非正式的研究分享。在最后的研讨会上，参与者将以海报和口头报告的形式正式分享他们的研究成果。研讨会的目的是确保参与者在完成项目时获得必要的材料，以便在全国会议上展示他们的研究成果，并为此提供旅费。总之，这些元素将确保REU站点的成功，该站点在强调实验-计算协作的跨学科设置中为本科生提供指导，教育机会和积极的研究感知。提议的REU站点的独特优势将激励参与者并使他们在未来的研究努力中取得成功。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。

This three-year REU Site, "Engineering Medical Advances at the Interface of Experiments and Computation", at the University of South Carolina at Columbia (USC) provides a ten-week summer research experience for ten undergraduate student participants. Students will be recruited nationally and selected on the basis of their academic performance, potential and enthusiasm for conducting research, and future plans for a research career. Recruiting targets primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) at which students might not otherwise gain access to research opportunities as well as institutions with a high proportion of minority students. Research at the interface of experiments and computation will stimulate future strategies to increase the length and quality of life through preventive healthcare, early diagnostics, and therapeutics. The proposed REU site exposes young researchers, our future scientific leaders, to this interdisciplinary and collaborative research environment, which is needed to understand complex and intricate biological phenomena. In addition to research, participants will engage in enrichment activities that span science, professional development, and (bio)medical product protection/commercialization. Planned activities will broaden their exposure to experimental and computational research, with focus on strategic integration of these approaches to achieve a common goal. The REU Site leverages expertise of an interdisciplinary group of faculty working at the interface of experiments and computation to advance understanding of fundamental biological phenomena and biomedical technologies. The proposed research is derived from ongoing, federally funded projects as well as newly established collaborations involving junior faculty. Research efforts utilize tools and knowledge at the interface of engineering and medical advancement to gain insight into interactions among biological molecules, cells, and tissues as well as interactions between synthetic systems and biological structures. It is expected that student participants will develop valuable, lasting relationships with faculty and graduate student mentors as well as fellow researchers, which will provide resources and encouragement in their pursuit of a research career. Planned social activities will build a sense of community among mentors and participants and facilitate an informal sharing of research. During a concluding symposium, participants will formally share their research as both a poster and oral presentation. The symposium is designed to ensure that participants complete the program with the materials necessary to present their research at a national meeting, for which travel funds are made available. Together, these elements will ensure the success of an REU Site that provides mentorship, education opportunities, and a positive perception of research to undergraduate students within an interdisciplinary setting that emphasizes experimental-computational collaboration. The unique strengths of the proposed REU Site will inspire participants and enable success in their future research endeavors.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.