Interdisciplinary research in the areas of cell/molecular biology and engineering is clearly an emergent field that will become the frontiers of scientific, engineering, and biological research. It is also clear that there is an urgent need to educate engineers about biology and biologists about engineering, and a need to train researchers in this critical, emergent field. In this project, an NSF-GEM4 Summer School on Cellular and Molecular Mechanics will be established through a collaborative effort among five US institutions (UIUC, MIT, Caltech, Georgia Tech, and UT-Austin). In the next five years, the Summer School on Cellular and Molecular Mechanics will be held at Caltech, UT-Austin, UIUC, MIT, and Georgia Tech, respectively. Experts from engineering and biology are invited to give lectures on basic knowledge in mechanics and in biology as well as on state-of-the-art research. Participants, including graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members from both engineering and biology, will learn the research tools and methods in each other's to explore potential collaborations on topics of mutual interest. The Summer School series is expected to produce the next generation of researchers who are equally familiar with the tools and methodologies in engineering and biology research, with a goal to foster a new, interdisciplinary research area at the intersection of engineering and biology. The impact of the Summer Schools will be significant and far-reaching, including developing new research tools, transforming the existing research methodologies, and potentially leading to solutions to some of the most challenging problems facing society including healthcare, energy and the environment. The five US institutions are strategically located geographically. The collaborations among these institutions will form the foundation for potential coordination in this emergent field and enhance the impact of future educational and research efforts.
