NRT-URoL: A Convergent Training Program on Biological Control

生命系统具有非凡的自我调节和适应能力，通过使用反馈来对不断变化的环境做出反应。例如，细菌通过对它们在周围感受到的化学物质做出反应，向食物来源迁移，骨骼和肌肉对运动的反应增加了它们的大小和密度。理解和利用原生生物系统的这些能力，并创造出具有这些能力的新系统，可能会彻底改变我们分析和设计世界许多方面的方式。这一愿景是新兴的生物控制领域的焦点，该领域将反馈控制的工程原理的研究与生物学中各种自我调节系统的研究结合在一起。目前，生物防治方面的教育和研究机会仅限于临时合作，其规模不足以满足生物技术、制造业、机器人、系统工程、数据科学、康复、生物修复、农业和可持续发展等领域日益增长的劳动力需求。因此，授予波士顿大学的国家科学基金会研究培训(NRT)奖的目标是开发、实施和测试第一个生物防治方面的研究生培训计划。该项目预计将培训约75名博士生，其中包括27名由NRT资助的学员，他们来自机械、生物医学和电气工程、生物、物理、化学、生物信息学、生物化学、数据科学和健康科学。该项目将为学生提供必要的知识和技能，以破译生物系统使用反馈控制的规则，并使用这些规则控制和合成天然、工程和生物杂交系统。该项目将建立在波士顿大学现有10个研究生项目的优势和许多专业发展资源的基础上。这一NRT计划包括：(A)新设计的特定于计划的课程和训练营，使用一系列案例研究、技术指导和基于团队的项目，以在生物防治的基本基础上发展共同语言和分享技术技能；(B)在整个学生培训过程中安排研讨会和相关活动，重点是发展特定的专业技能(沟通、伦理、团队合作)、网络和社区建设；(C)生物控制领域的共同指导、跨学科论文研究；以及(D)在一系列劳动力部门与外部合作伙伴进行实习。该计划将通过多元化会议、波士顿大学纽伯里中心为第一代学生在全国范围内举办的信息会议，以及直接接触不同的本科生和硕士学生社区等途径，在全国范围内广泛招收学生。该计划将在指导和职业发展方面采用循证做法，建立一个包容的社区，优先考虑学生的成长、自我效能和归属感--所有这些都是已知的提高理工科毕业生留校率的因素。项目评估将包括个人和机构层面在研究、教育、研究和教育整合、专业发展和包容性方面的短期和长期成果。NSF研究培训(NRT)计划旨在鼓励为STEM研究生教育培训开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革性的新模式。该计划致力于通过创新的、基于证据的、与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致的综合培训模式，在高度优先的跨学科或趋同的研究领域有效地培训STEM研究生。  该奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Living systems have a remarkable ability to self-regulate and adapt by using feedback to respond to their ever-changing environment. For example, bacteria migrate towards food sources by responding to chemicals they sense in their surroundings, and bones and muscles increase their size and density in response to exercise. Understanding and harnessing these abilities of native biological systems, and creating new systems empowered with these abilities, could revolutionize how we analyze and engineer numerous aspects of our world. This vision is the focus of the emerging field of biological control which combines study of the engineering principles of feedback control with investigations of the diverse array of self-regulating systems in biology. At present, educational and research opportunities in biological control are limited to ad hoc collaborations whose scale is insufficient to meet the growing workforce demand in biotechnology, manufacturing, robotics, systems engineering, data science, rehabilitation, bioremediation, agriculture, and sustainability. As such, the goal of this National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Boston University is to develop, implement, and test a first-of-its-kind graduate training program in biological control. The project anticipates training approximately 75 Ph.D. students, including 27 NRT-funded trainees, drawn from mechanical, biomedical and electrical engineering, biology, physics, chemistry, bioinformatics, biochemistry, data sciences, and health sciences.This program will provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to decipher the rules by which biological systems use feedback control and to use those rules to control and synthesize natural, engineered, and biohybrid systems. The program will build on strengths of 10 existing graduate programs at Boston University and many professional development resources. This NRT program includes: (A) newly designed, program-specific courses and bootcamps that use sequences of case studies, technical instruction, and team-based projects to develop a common language and shared body of technical skills in the fundamental underpinnings of biological control; (B) workshops and related events timed throughout the course of the student’s training that focus on development of specific professional skills (communication, ethics, teamwork), networking, and community building; (C) co-mentored, transdisciplinary thesis research in the field of biological control; and (D) internships with external partners in an array of workforce sectors. The program will recruit students broadly at the national level, using avenues such as diversity conferences, information sessions hosted nationally by Boston University’s Newbury Center for first-generation students, and direct outreach to diverse communities of undergraduate and master’s students. Using evidence-based practices in mentoring and professional development, the program will build an inclusive community that prioritizes student growth, self-efficacy, and sense of belonging—all factors known to improve graduate retention in science and engineering. Program evaluation will include short- and longer-term outcomes in research, education, integration of research and education, professional development, and inclusion, at both individual and institutional levels.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 or convergent 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.