REU Site: Human Neuroscience Research and Techniques at Georgia Tech and Georgia State

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。大脑对生活中的基本功能至关重要，如运动、情感、意识和调节。了解大脑是如何运作的，对于科学家关于行为和健康的问题至关重要。人类大脑的研究有可能通过复杂的工具来了解我们大脑的功能和健康。在过去的几十年里，在开发工具方面取得了巨大的进步，以提高我们更准确地了解人脑功能的能力。培养下一代脑科学家使用这些工具来解锁新发现是至关重要的。然而，一些大学年龄的有抱负的脑科学家无法使用这些工具，因为他们不能使用这些工具。这项面向本科生的研究体验旨在让学生亲身接触到了解人脑功能的工具。我们将在佐治亚州亚特兰大的佐治亚理工学院和佐治亚州立大学这两所在脑研究领域处于领先地位的大学的研究实验室培训女性和/或代表性不足的少数族裔大学生。这种体验将支持研究人脑功能的技术，增强他们对脑科学的知识，并支持能够解开大脑奥秘的下一代科学家。神经科学是一个不断增长的领域。关于大脑和大脑功能的知识对于我们理解人类行为和许多人类疾病和紊乱至关重要。佐治亚理工学院和佐治亚州立大学的合作神经科学社区非常适合提供人类神经科学研究和技术方面的本科生研究经验，以实现几个目标。这一REU计划将培训女性和/或代表性不足的少数族裔学生，包括6名参加独特的第二个暑期研究导师经验的学生，这些经验将：1)让学生接触到他们所在机构没有工具的人类神经科学研究；2)提供关于功能磁共振成像和脑电的数据获取和分析的动手培训；3)提供关于研究可靠性和可重复性的培训；4)在PI实验室从事积极的研究；5)增加学生申请研究生教育或在神经科学相关领域工作的竞争力，以及6)通过推进导师实验室的变革性研究，增加科学知识并做出神经科学发现。为了实现我们在学员中增加神经科学知识的目标，我们将通过与教师导师的合作研究，让他们参与到适合他们兴趣的变革性神经科学研究中。参与者将与佐治亚州立大学或佐治亚理工学院的教职员工一起进行这项变革性的研究，从而促进神经科学知识的发展。通过小组活动，REU参与者将获得他们原本无法接触到的神经科学技术的实践知识。REU参与者和教师导师的共同活动将促进心理学、物理学、神经科学、生物学和生物医学工程的互动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The brain is critical for basic functions in life, such as movement, emotion, awareness, and regulation. Understanding how the brain functions is vital to questions scientists have about behavior and health. Research of the human brain is possible with sophisticated tools that are used to understand the function and health of our brains. Over the last several decades, great steps have been made to develop the tools to improve our ability to more accurately understand human brain function. It is critical to develop the next generation of brain scientists to use these tools to unlock new discoveries. However, some college-age aspiring brain scientists are unable to use these tools because they are not available to them. This Research Experience for Undergraduates seeks to provide hands-on exposure to the tools to understand human brain function. We will train women and/or under-represented minority college students in research laboratories at two universities that are leaders in brain research, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University in the city of Atlanta, GA. This experience will support engagement with techniques to study human brain function, enhance their knowledge of brain science, and support the next generation of scientists that can unlock the mysteries of the brain.Neuroscience is a growing field. Knowledge about the brain and brain function is critical for our understanding of human behavior and many human diseases and disorders. The collaborative neuroscience community at Georgia Tech and Georgia State is uniquely suited to provide an undergraduate research experience in human neuroscience research and techniques that will achieve several goals. This REU program will train women and/or under-represented minority students, including 6 in a unique second summer research-mentorship experience that will: 1) provide exposure for students to human neuroscience research that do not have tools available at their institutions; 2) afford hands-on training on data acquisition and analysis in fMRI and EEG; 3) provide training on the importance of reliability and reproducibility in research; 4) engage in active research in PI labs; 5) increase the students' competitiveness when applying for post-graduate education or work in neuroscience-related fields, and 6)increase scientific knowledge and make neuroscientific discoveries by advancing the transformative research in faculty mentor laboratories. To achieve our goals of increasing neuroscience knowledge among trainees, we will engage them in transformative neuroscience research tailored to their interests through collaborative research with faculty mentors. The participants will advance neuroscientific knowledge by carrying out this transformative research with Georgia State or Georgia Tech faculty. Through group activities, the REU participants will gain a hands-on knowledge of neuroscience techniques that they would not otherwise have access to. The shared activities of the REU participants and faculty mentors will foster interaction across psychology, physics, neuroscience, biology, and biomedical engineering.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.