This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award supports the first graduate program in the world specifically training graduate students to understand, build, and assess impacts of transgenic organisms. The world recently witnessed the first open field release of a mosquito genetically engineered for suppressing transmission of a human disease. There is substantial debate regarding the appropriateness of this release and there are more complex transgenic pest strains being engineered for implementing Genetic Pest Management (GPM) of agricultural pests and invasive species. These developments evoke debates that continue to surround transgenic agricultural crops. Given this legacy, the future of GPM is likely to be determined by both social dynamics and technological advances.
Intellectual Merit: This IGERT integrates diverse disciplines, but it maintains the focus of trainees by studying a small set of species that are targets for GPM. Through a series of required IGERT courses, including one held in Latin America, all students receive core transdisciplinary training encompassing molecular biology, population genetics, ethics, communication, economics, and ecology. Each student specializes in one discipline and develops a dissertation with one or more substantial chapters centered on a target species. Broader Impacts: This IGERT will 1) improve methodologies for assessing and introducing new technologies, especially in poorer nations where many pests targeted for GPM are located; 2) evaluate a novel model for transdisciplinary graduate education; 3) provide integrative education to students from underrepresented groups in areas across the biological and social sciences; and 4) prepare Ph.D.s for careers requiring interdisciplinary skills and an understanding of global issues and cultures.
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.
