Training Program in Neuroengineering

描述(由申请者提供)：我们的目标是开发教育和研究计划，在神经工程的跨学科培训计划中培训科学家和教育工作者。该项目基于50多年的生物医学工程教育经验，以及我们在工程学院和医学院的独特和综合存在所提供的协作研究环境。经过4年的努力，形成了一个既严谨又全面的项目。学生在生物科学、神经科学和工程学方面获得深入的教育经验。课程的严谨性来源于神经科学(生物科学，但侧重于基础和临床神经科学)和工程学(侧重于定量、计算和新兴技术)的核心课程。他们还获得了必要的教学经验。我们的学生不仅可以获得生物医学工程方面的指导，还可以获得其他工程项目、我们的大脑研究所和各种临床部门(神经病学、神经外科、放射学)的指导。我们赞助的研究基础仍然非常强大，资金来源多样。我们继续从竞争激烈的国家人才库中吸引申请者，并能够保持非常高的选择性标准。我们即将毕业第一批优秀的博士生。我们现在进入这个培训计划的下一个成熟阶段，优先为我们的学生准备和安排他们进入最好和最令人兴奋的科学职业生涯。为了扩大研究机会，我们增加了两个新的重点领域：神经成像和临床神经工程，包括一些备受尊敬的教师。我们项目的标志性方面仍然是在医学院的强大存在，以及与一群杰出的临床神经科学家合作的机会，使用工程方法来解决临床问题。尽管到目前为止，我们的方案在招募、留住和培训代表性不足的少数族裔方面有着良好的记录，但仍有一些机构正在努力进一步刺激招募和参与。我们计划的一个标志是神经工程培训计划(NETI)，它已经催生了几个令人兴奋的当地指导和外展活动。我们的其他计划是为我们的毕业生制定一个正式的安置计划，通过为课程开发和研究座谈会做出贡献，使我们的教育和研究计划成为全国基准，并开发创新的方法，以培养高中生和代表不足的少数族裔进入神经工程领域。该培训计划正在开发中，以支持和培训在神经工程领域具有教育和研究兴趣的博士前候选人。这种广泛的相关性源于在这个新兴的、至关重要的科学领域培养未来劳动力的机会，并期望这些受训人员将为未来的科学和学术进步做出贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our goal is to develop educational and research programs to train scientists and educators in an interdisciplinary training program in Neuroengineering. This program is based on more than 50 years of educational experience in Biomedical Engineering, and a collaborative research environment made possible by our unique and integrated presence in both the engineering and medical schools. The past 4 years' effort has resulted in a program that is both rigorous and comprehensive. The students get in depth educational experiences in biological sciences, neurosciences, and engineering. The rigor is derived from the core curriculum in neurosciences (biological science in general but with focus on basic and clinical neurosciences) and engineering (with focus on quantitative, computational, and emerging technologies). They also gain a requisite teaching experience. Our students have access to mentors not only in Biomedical Engineering, but other engineering programs, our Mind-Brain Institute, and various clinical departments (Neurology, Neurosurgery, Radiology). Our sponsored research base remains exceptionally strong with funding from diverse sources. We continue to draw applicants from a highly competitive national pool, and are able to maintain very high standards of selectivity. We are about to graduate the first batch of outstanding doctoral candidates. We now enter the next, maturing phase of this training program with the priority to prepare and place our students in the best and most exciting scientific careers. To expand the research opportunities, we have added two new focus areas: Neuroimaging and Clinical Neuroengineering with the inclusion of a number of highly regarded faculty. The signature aspects of our program still remain the strong presence in the medical school and the opportunity to work with an outstanding group of clinical neuroscientists to use engineering approaches to solve clinical problems. Although our program so far has a good track record of recruiting, retaining and training underrepresented minorities there are a number of institutional efforts underway to further stimulate recruiting and participation. A hallmark of our program is the NeuroEngineering Training Initiative (NETI) that has spawned several exciting local mentoring and outreach activities. Our other plans are to develop a formal placement program for our graduates, make our educational and research program a national benchmark by contributing to curriculum development and research symposia, and develop innovative approaches to fostering entry by high school students as well as under-represented minorities into the field of Neuroengineering. The training program is being developed to support and train predoctoral candidates with educational and research interests in the field of Neuroengineering. The broad relevance stems from the opportunity to produce workforce of the future in this emergent, critically important scientific field with the expectation that these trainees will contribute to future scientific and academic advancements.