This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program (IGERT) renewal award establishes a training program focused on the science and engineering of stem cells. New cross-cutting thrusts for Ph.D. research, together with a new multidisciplinary graduate curriculum, will integrate stem cell biology with research in biomaterials, process engineering, and computational modeling. Trainees will participate in an IGERT Research Interchange Forum to develop their abilities to communicate across disparate disciplines. Professional development activities encompassing teaching, mentoring, and outreach will enable IGERT trainees to better realize the impact of their technological know-how. Each IGERT trainee will be guided by an advisory constellation of scholars drawn from over 30 faculty members from Engineering, Molecular Biosciences, Physical Sciences, Business, Public Policy, and Management. The IGERT program will leverage Rutgers' active "diversity infrastructure" to help broaden the participation of underrepresented minority students. In addition to providing research opportunities for visiting underrepresented undergraduates, the IGERT will offer two new initiatives: a teacher-student summer institute at Rutgers, and, a bridge-to-IGERT program. New outreach programs at the intersection of stem cell science and engineering with public policy and business include: (1) an initiative with the School of Management and Labor Relations to "bundle" IGERT research and curriculum into portable modules for scientific workforce training; (2) Rutgers Business School-mediated interactions with pharmaceutical management students and industry; (3) public policy workshops with policy makers, facilitated by the Eagleton Institute of Politics. IGERT trainees will acquire global perspectives through internships and workshops with leading stem cell researchers at over 15 sites in Europe and Asia. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
