An urgent issue facing today's researchers in the life sciences is coping with the data explosion resulting from the advent of powerful new technologies. More data does not yield better information without the interdisciplinary tools required for such a transformation. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of Maryland, College Park will build an innovative, cross-disciplinary model for graduate education that addresses this challenge by preparing students to pursue a range of STEM careers at the nexus of the computer, physical, and life sciences. Trainees will learn to combine physics-style quantitative modeling with data processing, analysis, and visualization methods from computer science to gain deeper insights into the principles governing living systems. The project anticipates training approximately sixty (60) PhD students, including thirty-five (35) funded trainees, from the physical, computer, and life sciences.
Understanding how data-derived interaction patterns can give insights into complex biological phenomena is the research focus of this program. Through an innovative combination of cross-disciplinary training, collaborative research, and outreach activities, NRT trainees will become experts in the process of transforming raw biological data into useful information from which new biological insights can be inferred. Participants will receive training in four different areas of network analysis: quantitative metrics for biological networks; mechanistic models of biological networks; network statistics and machine learning for biological applications; and visualization techniques for large, complex, biological datasets. This training will provide the foundation for research in one or more of three application areas, covering a wide range of biological scales: biomolecular networks; neuronal networks; and ecological/behavioral networks. Research experiences, interdisciplinary coursework, peer-to-peer tutorials, and internships with partners will provide graduate students with the skills needed to communicate complex scientific ideas to diverse audiences in order to maximize impact. Outreach activities will extend the benefits of the program to undergraduates, middle/high school students, and to the public at large.
The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The Traineeship Track is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas, through the comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.
