This IGERT program addresses America's long-term need for top-notch scientists capable of translating research results into new technologies and new businesses. It combines excellent interdisciplinary science education with entrepreneurial and business training. Faculty and students from two Mississippi universities will form teams and develop joint projects exploring how polymer science and medicinal chemistry can synergistically extend the methods of making and evaluating new materials, new bioactive agents and new applications of biomaterials. Participants will be centered in the School of Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Mississippi and the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at the University of Southern Mississippi. They will be tied together through research projects, broad education in business and entrepreneurialism, and interactions with industry in the US and abroad. Specific components of the intellectual merit include: Basic research projects coupling medicinal/pharmaceutical science and polymeric materials; Discipline-centered, interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial education involving students-teaching-students, workshops, seminars, short-courses, industrial internships and international experiences; and Continuous reinforcement of the discipline and entrepreneurial components by team-building activities, video conferencing plus joint proposals, presentations, publications and business plans.
Broader impact of this program is inherent in the materials and methods being developed, and in how the projects and business plans are implemented: Within the state, bringing together two excellent programs to teach and do research at a truly innovative and socially important science interface; Within the US, by developing a successful model for research and teaching in science that uniquely combines structured education, training and hands-on experience in business and entrepeneurialism; and World-wide, through learning from and teaching students and industrial practitioners in other countries and other disciplines.
Students experiencing this program will be able to start their own companies, perhaps even at or before graduation, and to be highly effective members of larger company research and development teams. The methods and education materials developed will also be made available to members of the local community, industry in the state and throughout the nation, and students and faculty at universities everywhere through workshops, seminars, books and training manuals, and distance-learning courses and degrees. It is expected that this IGERT program will serve as a model for integration of science and entrepeneurial education that have immediate and long-term impact on other programs in Mississippi, and will result in new businesses that will enhance economic development in the state and quality of life everywhere.
IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In this sixth year of the program, awards are being made to institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.
