Neurodiversity is an emerging concept through which certain neurological differences - Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyslexia, and others - are considered a natural part of human neurocognitive variation, associated not only with impairments but also with unique strengths. Indeed, many neurodiverse people have capabilities that are in high demand across many sectors, yet their potential remains vastly underutilized. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Vanderbilt University will address this potential by training graduate students in a new interdisciplinary field of Neurodiversity Inspired Science and Engineering (NISE), which links human-technology frontiers (HTF) research and education across STEM disciplines through a cohesive focus on autism. The project anticipates providing a unique and comprehensive training opportunity for one hundred fifty (150) MS and PhD students, including forty-five (45) funded trainees, from computer science, mechanical engineering, data science, psychology, organizational science, and neuroscience. Students will engage in research that has as its goals: (i) understanding the unique capabilities associated with autism and learning to match these capabilities to 21st-century workforce needs, (ii) prototyping assistive technologies to enable employment and workplace success, and (iii) exploring organizational practices that help leverage the talents of autistic individuals and enhance organizational innovation.
The NISE NRT project seeks to train a new type of engineer and scientist, one who can devise innovations that support workforce engagement of individuals with autism and/or that are inspired by autistic capabilities. Building on the strengths of Vanderbilt's new Frist Center for Autism & Innovation, this NRT project will engage trainees in the development, deployment, and commercialization of HTF approaches and devices, providing broadly applicable skills in artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, virtual reality, and inclusive design. Collaboration with practitioners in clinical psychology, special education, and business, will ensure relevance of trainees' projects to the clinical, educational, and/or commercial domains. Trainees will participate in the Vanderbilt NSF I-Corps program as well as invention disclosure and patents. Research projects will also impact K-12 students and teachers in the communities where NRT trainees conduct their work. A central part of the program's plan to recruit, mentor, and advance women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities is the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program, a national exemplar in STEM graduate diversity. Trainees will undertake, in addition to their regular graduate program requirements, a common core of three new NISE courses, summer school, workshops, and internships, culminating in a graduate certificate in NISE.
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 program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
