? In response to the """"""""Training for a new interdisciplinary research workforce"""""""" RFA, we propose a comprehensive interdisciplinary training program in Physical and Chemical Biology (PCBio) at the University of Chicago. Sophomore and junior students majoring in Biology, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science will be offered an enriched training experience that combines an interdisciplinary curriculum with individual research and scholarship. The PCBio program will select ten students during the Spring quarter of their sophomore year to participate in a mentored summer research experience that includes two rotations and a formal evaluation process. After completion of the summer program, PCBio trainees will enroll in interdisciplinary courses designed for the newly created Minor in Interdisciplinary Quantitative Studies in the Natural Sciences and will perform research throughout the year in the laboratory of one of the thirty mentor faculty. During their junior summer, students will be be poised to direct their research to areas that bridge multiple labs. Support in the senior year will be via independent research funding available to the mentors and their collaborators. The PCBio Program involves mentored research rotations, carefully monitored year-long research experiences and programmatic activities designed to promote horizontal and vertical integration among partipants and to foster leadership skills. This program will promote interdisciplinaty teamwork in the highly competitive research environment of the Biological and Physical Sciences Divisions at the University of Chicago. The program will be housed in the Biological Sciences Learning Center (BSLC) where the offices of the Codirectors are located. The curricular resources of the College and the research laboratories of the Biological and Physical Sciences Divisions will be fully available to the PCBio trainees. The University of Chicago PCBio program will be a major driver of curricular and scientific change that will impact undergraduates and faculty alike ? ?
Showing the most recent 10 out of 14 publications
