The phenotype is at the center of virtually every process in the life sciences, from disease susceptibility and pathogen virulence, to agricultural yield, to invasions of introduced species, to the sustainability of management practices. Discovering how the phenotype is built and interacts with the environment is a key to solving the real-world challenges that range from human health and disease, to food security, to managing biological and ecological diversity in the face of anthropogenic impacts on the environment. 21st century life scientists will need to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries to transform the understanding of complex traits and solve these problems. Professionals in health care, agriculture, conservation, management and data science all require a new integrative training to move past the constrained thinking of traditional research silos. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award to the University of Virginia will address these demands through a new cross-scale graduate curriculum and a programmatic focus on professional development and career preparation in the life sciences. The traineeship anticipates providing a unique interdisciplinary training opportunity to over 130 students, including 30 funded trainees, across the life sciences from Biomedical Sciences, to Biology, Psychology, and Environmental Sciences, developing an explicitly integrated approach to education and a culture that embraces diversity, creates innovation, and fosters professional development.
Trainees will vertically integrate ideas and techniques from across the life sciences and generate a network of collaborations across traditional disciplines that will transform the way that the phenotype is investigated. The training program introduces a new graduate curriculum that combines innovative cross-scale research training with development of a broad quantitative toolkit. Professional development that includes formal preparation for a diverse range of careers through career exploration and internships, as well as communication and quantitative skills, will be woven throughout graduate training to produce trainees that contribute to a broad range of societal challenges. The program will enhance diversity in the life sciences through a culture of inclusivity that runs from science to scientist including recruiting, mentoring, and training for both non-academic and academic careers. The program will develop connections with UVA Career Services and the School for Data Sciences and enhance the fledgling PhD+ program, leading to lasting institutional change in graduate training. Program innovations will be shared with other institutions through career services and graduate training networks.
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.
