This application proposes to support two interdisciplinary research curriculum objectives. ? ? The first is to devise and implement a 'Water and Health' interdisciplinary course at Tufts University, which has recently started an interdisciplinary, all-University program focusing on drinking water. This program is a partnership of the Tufts University Schools of Arts and Sciences; Engineering; the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; the School of Veterinary Medicine; and the School of Medicine. In order to meet the challenge of developing an integrated approach across disciplines to understand - and solve global water issues, Tufts has launched the """"""""Water: Systems, Science, and Society"""""""" PhD and MS Program. The purpose of the program is to provide the interdisciplinary tools and perspectives need to manage water-related problems. This program enjoys the highest level support at Tufts, including the participation of the President as a WSSS faculty member. ? ? The second objective is to make concrete an internet based, interdisciplinary curricular linkage between Tufts' Graduate Program in Public Health, and specific East African centers of excellence in public health training and research. The PI has cultivated educational and research linkages at both the University and individual faculty level in East Africa since the fall of 2000 in pursuit of this objective. The purpose of this objective is to develop interdisciplinary shared courses or modules that will lend themselves to the teaching of research methods, and to the building of research networks. ? ? The applicant is ideally situated to develop and implement these innovative curricula. He is the Director of the Graduate Programs in Public Health at Tufts University School of Medicine, whose MPH program was ranked #1 in the US in 2004, and a seasoned educator. He is also an active biomedical researcher with 6 active grants (5 NIH, 1 USAID), 5 of which are active in Kenya and Ecuador, most of which have a 'water' focus, and several of which are highly interdisciplinary. As such, he is an integral part of Tufts' research and academic programs, and is qualified to provide leadership in innovative interdisciplinary research curricula. Innovative aspects of this proposal include the support of student research projects within the context of courses in both specific aims. Strong institutional commitment to these objectives has been, and is, present. ? ?
