This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award will support the establishment of a multidisciplinary graduate training program in Optical Bio-Molecular Engineering (OBE) that melds the more traditional areas of optical engineering, biological chemistry, and molecular biology. This activity is a joint effort of fourteen scientists and engineers from the Departments of Botany, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Zoology. This group of scientists and engineers has established research collaborations and has interacted extensively through the existing Graduate Programs in Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas. Their collective expertise will provide the intellectual underpinning for the training of a diverse cadre of some seventy graduate students over the five-year tenure of the award. This IGERT activity in OBE draws upon recent advances in optical technologies that enable dynamic visualization and manipulation of processes within single cells and tissues with nanoscale resolution. Important features of the program include broad exposure of doctoral students to the field through research internships and seminars; interdisciplinary doctoral research guided by multiple mentors; and new courses that provide the multidisciplinary perspective necessary for the design and use of optical instrumentation for visualization and manipulation of tissues and cells. IGERT is a new, NSF-wide program intended to facilitate the establishment of innovative, research-based graduate programs that will train a diverse group of scientists and engineers to be well-prepared to take advantage of a broad spectrum of career options. IGERT provides doctoral institutions with an opportunity to develop new, well-focussed multidisciplinary graduate programs that transcend organizational boundaries and unite faculty from several departments or institutions to establish a highly interactive, collaborative environment for both training and research. In this first year of the program, support will be provided to seventeen institutions for new or nascent programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.
