Impact: This P30 proposal will unfreeze a new faculty recruitment to enhance resources through a Biomedical Research Core Center in Neural Engineering at Penn State University. The impact will be the ability to hire a powerful and unique candidate in a multidisciplinary center and foster the fusion of Neural Engineering and Materials Science, with powerful translational potential to improve our understanding of functional MRI, the treatment of stroke, and interfacing with the brain. Overview: Penn State University is constructing a new $215 Million facility - The Millennium Science Complex - that will house, in synergistic proximity, its premier programs: the Center for Neural Engineering (CNE), the Materials Research Institute (MRI), and the HUCK Institutes for the Life Sciences (HUCK). The strategic vision of the Center for Neural Engineering is to focus on the intersection of these fields, and create a Core Biomedical Research Facility focused strategically on The Material Brain. This Recovery Act proposal seeks to create a unique junior hiring position to foster the trans-disciplinary opportunities that such a new core facility provides. These include recruiting faculty who bridge Neural Engineering to the Materials and Life Sciences, and taking advantage of the world-class specialists gathered within this facility. The new hire will hold a tenure track appointment in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM), a secondary appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery, become core faculty in the Center for Neural Engineering and hold affiliate appointments in MRI and HUCK. The Candidate: After a yearlong international search, the top candidate selected was Dr. Patrick Drew. Penn State University is a State-Related institution. In the present economic situation (with budget recessions) in Pennsylvania, we do not have sufficient funds to meet Dr. Drew's startup needs. Consequently, his recruitment is frozen. This Recovery Act P30 grant application seeks to help us support the hiring of Dr. Drew, who would join our faculty in the 2009-2010 academic year if this proposal is funded.
There is tremendous impact on medicine from scientists and engineers who can bridge between engineering, materials science, and the brain. This award will enable a junior faculty member to be recruited into a unique Neural Engineering Core Center crafted to enable the new recruit to solve fundamental and translational biomedical problems in a superb environment for career development and research.
