This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award supports an interdisciplinary training program for Ph.D. students at Brandeis University, carried out in partnership with the New England Center for Complex Systems (NECSI). The goal is to create a group of mathematical scientists with the computational skills, intellectual flexibility, and global perspective needed to attack pressing problems in pure science, applied science, and public policy that require a mathematically sophisticated, interdisciplinary approach.
Intellectual Merit: Fundamental problems in the theory of fundamental particles, quantum gravity, the science of materials, the emergence of cognition, disease epidemiology, and economic forecasting all draw from a set of common mathematical concepts and techniques in geometry, complex classical and quantum systems, and probability theory. Students trained in a variety of mathematical techniques, broadly educated in the applications of these techniques, and experienced in communicating their ideas across disciplines will best be able to respond to new scientific problems whose solution requires advanced mathematics, sophisticated modeling, and the management of large data sets. The IGERT program will therefore include: hands-on experience through interdisciplinary research rotations; interdisciplinary coursework; co-advisors outside of the students? discipline; intensive NECSI-led summer institutes; an IGERT seminar series; and the opportunity for internships at the International Center for the Theoretical Sciences in Bangalore, India. Broader Impacts: Students will learn to communicate their work to prospective science students and the public via public lectures, the Brandeis Science Posse program, and the Acton Discovery Center.
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.
