This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional graduate training program of education and research in the area of Therapeutic and Diagnostic Devices (PTDD). The vision of PTDD is to be the premier source in the U.S. of well-educated engineers in the field of biomedical devices. The main mission of PTDD will be to prepare outstanding engineers with strong background in the fundamentals of engineering and significant crossdisciplinary expertise in the biomedical science area. The program is a collaborative effort of the Schools of Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, and Pharmacy of Purdue University, the School of Engineering and Technology of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, and the School of Medicine of Indiana University. The objectives and strategies of the PTDD include strong industrial interaction with internships for the graduate participants; four new courses and three new teaching laboratories; and purchase of new equipment for the support of the new laboratories. Procedures will be adopted to advertise the new program and attract excellent graduate students with emphasis on attracting engineers from traditionally underrepresented areas. PTDD will have a major impact in educating students that will be able to design, analyze and implement new medical devices for therapy and diagnosis.
IGERT is an 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 second year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. This specific award is supported by funds from the Directorates for Engineering, for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Office of Multidisciplinary Activities), and for Education and Human Resources.
