This renewal REU award for a site focused on diabetes will support ten undergraduates for three years in a ten-week summer research experience at the Illinois Institute of Technology (ITT).
The primary goals of this program are to: 1) have students complete challenging diabetes-related engineering projects with research mentors; 2) demonstrate the ability to design experiments, analyze data, and present results that address a hypothesis; 3) expose students to the broader health implications of their research with lectures, outreach, and tours of clinical facilities; and 4) integrate ethics discussion and training into all aspects of the student experience. In order to build positive relationships between students and mentors in this program several social activities have been planned. These include weekly lunches, a student/faculty cookout, trips to sporting events, and performing volunteer work for the American Diabetes Association Day Camp. These experiences will stimulate the interests of undergraduates in engineering research, in general, and specifically emphasize the needs for top-notch researchers in the field of diabetes.
More than 18 million people in the United States have diabetes. While a cure does not currently exist, biomedical engineering is providing important inroads to understanding and treating the disease and its many complications.
In 2005, ITT established a unique multi-disciplinary center, the Engineering Center for Diabetes Research and Education?s (ECDRE) under the umbrella of the Pritzker Institute for Biomedical Science and Engineering. The objective of the ECDRE is to use engineering techniques to increase understanding and treatment of diabetes and its complications. Also, the ECDRE is the first engineering center in the U.S. to focus on diabetes. The Biomedical Engineering Department at ITT in collaboration with the ECDRE will provide the foundation for this summer REU program
The PIs will target undergraduates from institutions were Biomedical Engineering research opportunities are limited, with a focus on women and underrepresented minorities for participation in this REU summer program. By conducting research projects related to a disease that affects more than 18 million people in the United States, the PIs have the potential to advance understanding while influencing engineers in their career.
This is a renewal of a National Science Foundation proposal where students from throughout the U.S the opportunity to participate in a summer Biomedical Engineering Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Students spend ten weeks in biomedical engineering laboratories performing research in engineering projects related to the understanding and treatment of diabetes and its complications. The program is also intended to inform the undergraduate students’ understandings about research design and practice. In addition to the research experience students were exposed to the broader aspects of diabetes through weekly seminars, tours and outreach activities. Students were also exposed to research ethics through a weekly course in research ethics directed by engineering faculty and members of the campus ethics center. In six years, 64 undergraduate students have been supported. These students are from 24 different states and 46 institutions. Over the 6 years of funding the program consisted of 60% women, 32% students from underrepresented minority groups, and 66% students without previous research experience overall. In addition 4 students had type I diabetes and one was a veteran. Upon completion of the program students were asked to assess whether the program increased their interest in research careers. Over 60% of students said the experience increased their interest in research careers, indicating a broad range of responses from tilting their career goals in favor of research to a new interest in graduate school. Very few students had a decreased interest in research. Upon completion of the program, students were asked to answer questions and provide comment on the time spent on research and interactions their mentor. Ninety-four percent of students spent more than 30 hours per week on research. The time spent on interactions with mentors ranged from 0.5 hours a week to a maximum of 10 hours. Students primarily said that their advisor guided experimental design and provided insight into overall design of the project. Students described more close interactions with grad students, pointing out that the grad students provided additional mentoring, assisted with experimental design, and provided training on laboratory techniques. Survey questions were asked to assess their expectations of the program prior to and after completion of the 10 week program. Upon completion highest absolute scores were given for "understanding what graduate school is like", "understanding primary literature in your topic", and "confidence in your ability to present/defend research". These results suggest that students were given good exposure to the nature of research and graduate school. The lowest scores were for "knowledge of specific career paths for faculty in your field of study", "understanding contemporary concepts in your field of study", and "knowledge of diverse career options in your field of study". These suggest that students receive a breadth of exposure to career paths and options. All students presented their work orally at the annual IIT Summer Undergraduate Research Day and wrote a journal style research manuscript at the completion of the program. These activities provide the students with experience in presenting their research both orally and written. Over 50% of students had abstracts accepted for presentation at a national meeting. From 2006-2010 11 of 54 students, or 20.3%, made sufficient enough contributions to be co-authors on (8 of 54), or acknowledged for their contributions to (3 of 54), peer reviewed publications. One goal of this program is to provide the students exposure to diabetes and the health implications of the research activities. Pre and post tests were administered to students in which knowledge of diabetes was assessed. For all concepts (basic understanding, type I vs type II, treatment options, and complications of the disease) there was an increase in scores following completion of the program. These data suggest that the seminar, tour and research activities result in greater student understanding of the disease. We believe this education is important as diabetes becomes an even greater burden on our society and healthcare. Former REU students were contacted in order to track their careers and the impact of the REU program on their career path. Of students who had completed their bachelor’s degrees, 47% were pursuing a Ph.D. or master’s degree, 33% professional school (primarily medicine), and 20% were working in industry. Many industry jobs were in the area of research and development. Fifty-seven percent of students still in their undergraduate programs expressed an interest in pursuing a graduate degree, 28% wanted to pursue professional school, and 14% industry. Regardless of career path, a number of students expressed that the experience has had a huge impact on their careers. Eighty percent of students said that they worked in research projects after the summer. Many students said the experience helped them in their careers. It created new opportunities, increased confidence in science and engineering and improved their understanding of research interactions.
