This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of an interdisciplinary graduate training program in Cognitive, Computational, and Systems Neuroscience at Washington University in Saint Louis. Understanding how the brain works under normal circumstances and how it fails are among the most important problems in science. The purpose of this program is to train a new generation of systems-level neuroscientists who will combine experimental and computational approaches from the fields of psychology, neurobiology, and engineering to study brain function in unique ways. Students will participate in a five-course core curriculum that provides a broad base of knowledge in each of the core disciplines, and culminates in a pair of highly integrative and interactive courses that emphasize critical thinking and analysis skills, as well as practical skills for developing interdisciplinary research projects. This program also includes workshops aimed at developing the personal and professional skills that students need to become successful independent investigators and educators, as well as outreach programs aimed at communicating the goals and promise of integrative neuroscience to the general public. This training program will be tightly coupled to a new research focus involving neuro-imaging in nonhuman primates. By building upon existing strengths at Washington University, this research and training initiative will provide critical new insights into how the non-invasive measurements of brain function that are available in humans (e.g. from functional MRI) are related to the underlying activity patterns in neuronal circuits of the brain. 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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kurt ThoroughmanGregory DeAngelisRandy BucknerSteven PetersenDora Angelaki
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering and DO-IT IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) at the University of Washington propose to create the AccessComputing Alliance for the purpose of increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing careers. Alliance partners Gallaudet University, Microsoft, the NSF Regional Alliances for Persons with Disabilities in STEM (hosted by the University of Southern Maine, New Mexico State University, and UW), and SIGACCESS of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and collaborators represent stakeholders from education, industry, government, and professional organizations nationwide.
Alliance activities apply proven practices to support persons with disabilities within computing programs. To increase the number of students with disabilities who successfully pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees, the alliance will run college transition and bridge, tutoring, internship, and e-mentoring programs. To increase the capacity of postsecondary computing departments to fully include students with disabilities in coursers and programs, the alliance will form communities of practice, run capacity-building institutes, and develop systemic change indicators for computing departments. To create a nationwide resource to help students with disabilities pursue computing careers and computing educators and employers, professional organizations and other stakeholders to develop more inclusive programs and share effective practices, the alliance will create and maintain a searchable AccessComputing Knowledge Base of FAQs, case studies, and effective/promising practices.
These activities will build on existing alliances and resources in a comprehensive, integrated effort. They will create nationwide collaborations among individuals with disabilities, computing professionals, employers, disability providers, and professional organizations to explore the issues that contribute to the underrepresentation of persons with disabilities and to develop, apply and assess interventions. In addition, they will support local and regional efforts to recruit and retain students with disabilities into computing and assist them in institutionalizing and replicating their programs. The alliance will work with other Alliances and organizations that serve women and underrepresented minorities to make their programs accessible to students with disabilities. Finally they will collect and publish research and implementation data to enhance scientific and technological understanding of issues related to the inclusion of people with disabilities in computing.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Richard LadnerLibby CohenSheryl BurgstahlerWilliam McCarthy
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
QuarkNet is a national program that partners high school science teachers and students with particle physicists working in experiments at the scientific frontier. These experiments are searching for answers to fundamental questions about the origin of mass, the dimensionality of spacetime and the nature of symmetries that govern physical processes. Among the experimental projects at the energy frontier with which QuarkNet is affiliated is the Large Hadron Collider, which is poised at the horizon of discovery. The LHC will come on line during the 5-years of this program. QuarkNet is led by a group of teachers, educators and physicists with many years of experience in professional development workshops and institutes, materials development and teacher research programs. The project consists of 52 centers at universities and research labs in 25 states and Puerto Rico. It is proposed that Quarknet be funded as a partnership among the ESIE program of EHR; the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities and the Elementary Particle Physics Program (Division of Physics), both within MPS; as well as the Division of High Energy Physics at DOE.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mitchell WayneRandal RuchtiDaniel Karmgard
This award is for a Science and Technology Center devoted to the emerging area of nanobiotechnology that involves a close synthesis of nano-microfabrication and biological systems. The Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) features a highly interdisciplinary, close collaboration between life scientists, physical scientists, and engineers from Cornell University, Princeton University, Oregon Health Sciences University, and Wadsworth Center of the New York State Health Department. The integrating vision of the NBTC is that nanobiotechnology will be the genesis of new insights into the function of biological systems, and lead to the design of new classes of nano- and microfabricated devices and systems. Biological systems present a particular challenge in that the diversity of materials and chemical systems for biological applications far exceeds those for silicon-based technology in the integrated-circuit industry. New fabrication processes appropriate for biological materials will require a substantial expansion in knowledge about the interface between organic and inorganic systems. The ability to structure materials and pattern surface chemistry at small dimensions ranging from the molecular to cellular scale are the fundamental technologies on which the research of the NBTC is based. Nanofabrication can also be used to form new analytical probes for interrogating biological systems with unprecedented spatial resolution and sensitivity. Three unifying technology platforms that foster advances in materials, processes, and tools underlie and support the research programs of the NBTC: Molecules of nanobiotechnology; Novel methods of patterning surfaces for attachment of molecules and cells to substrates; and Sensors and devices for nanobiotechnology. Newly developed fabrication capabilities will also be available through the extensive resources of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, a site of the NSF National Nanofabrication Users Network. The NBTC will be an integrated part of the educational missions of the participating institutions. NBTC faculty will develop a new cornerstone graduate course in nanobiotechnology featuring nanofabrication with an emphasis on biological applications. Graduate students who enter the NBTC from a background in engineering or biology will cross-train in the other field by engaging in a significant level of complementary course work. Participation in the NBTC will prepare them with the disciplinary depth and cross-disciplinary understanding to become next generation leaders in this emerging field. An undergraduate research experience program with a strong mentoring structure will be established, with emphasis on recruiting women and underrepresented minorities into the program. Educational outreach activities are planned to stimulate the interest of students of all ages. One such activity partnered with the Science center in Ithaca is a traveling exhibition for museum showings on the subject of nano scale size. National and federal laboratories and industrial and other partners will participate in various aspects of the NBTC such as by hosting interns, attendance at symposia and scientist exchanges. Partnering with the industrial affiliates will be emphasized to enhance knowledge transfer and student and postdoctoral training. This specific STC award is managed by the Directorate for Engineering in coordination with the Directorates for Biological Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Education and Human Resources.
This Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) is a collaboration among Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California—Santa Barbara, and the Museum of Science—Boston with participation by Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), the University of Basel (Switzerland), the University of Tokyo (Japan), and the Brookhaven, Oak Ridge, and the Sandia National Laboratories. The NSEC combines "top down" and "bottom up" approaches to construct novel electronic and magnetic devices with nanoscale sizes and understand their behavior, including quantum phenomena. Through a close integration of research, education, and public outreach, the Center encourages and promotes the training of a diverse group of people to be leaders in this new interdisciplinary field.
The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center entitled New England Nanomanufacturing Center for Enabling Tools is a partnership between Northeastern University, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the University of New Hampshire, and Michigan State University. The NSEC unites 34 investigators from 9 departments. The NSEC is likely to impact solutions to three critical and fundamental technical problems in nanomanufacturing: (1) Control of the assembly of 3D heterogeneous systems, including the alignment, registration, and interconnection at three dimensions and with multiple functionalities, (2) Processing of nanoscale structures in a high-rate/high-volume manner, without compromising the beneficial nanoscale properties, (3) Testing the long-term reliability of nano components, and detect, remove, or prevent defects and contamination. Novel tools and processes will enable high-rate/high-volume bottom-up, precise, parallel assembly of nanoelements (such as carbon nanotubes, nanorods, and proteins) and polymer nanostructures. This Center will contribute a fundamental understanding of the interfacial behavior and forces required to assemble, detach, and transfer nanoelements, required for guided self-assembly at high rates and over large areas. The Center is expected to have broader impacts by bridging the gap between scientific research and the creation of commercial products by established and emerging industries, such as electronic, medical, and automotive. Long-standing ties with industry will also facilitate technology transfer. The Center builds on an already existing network of partnerships among industry, universities, and K-12 teachers and students to deliver the much-needed education in nanomanufacturing, including its environmental, economic, and societal implications, to the current and emerging workforce. The collaboration of a private and two public universities from two states, all within a one hour commute, will lead to a new center model, with extensive interaction and education for students, faculty, and outreach partners. The proposed partnership between NENCET and the Museum of Science (Boston) will foster in the general public the understanding that is required for the acceptance and growth of nanomanufacturing. The Center will study the societal implications of nanotechnology, including conducting environmental assessments of the impact of nanomanufacturing during process development. In addition, the Center will evaluate the economic viability in light of environmental and public health findings, and the ethical and regulatory policy issues related to developmental technology.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ahmed BusnainaNicol McGruerGlen MillerCarol BarryJoey Mead
The goal of this engineering education project entitled EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN ENGINEERS (EWE) is to encourage more academically prepared high school girls to consider engineering as an attractive option for post-secondary education and subsequent careers in order to increase the number of women who make up the engineering workforce. Specific project objectives are to: 1) mobilize America's more than one million engineers to reach out to educators, school counselors, and high school girls with tested messages tailored to encourage participation in engineering education and careers; 2) help high school counselors and science, math, and technology teachers to better understand the nature of engineering, the academic background needed to pursue engineering, and the career paths available in engineering; 3) equip high school counselors and teachers to share this information with students, especially girls; and 4) reach out to girls directly with messages that accurately reflect the field of engineering and will inspire girls to choose engineering. The WGBH Educational Foundation has partnered with the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and a coalition of more than 50 of the country's engineering associations, colleges, and universities to fundamentally shift the way the engineering and educational communities portray engineering. Based on a needs assessment performed in 2004, the EWE coalition embraces a communication strategy that focuses on the societal value and rewards of being an engineer, as opposed to the traditional emphasis on the process and challenges of becoming an engineer. This project represents a nationwide outreach effort that includes training opportunities for engineers; targeted Web-based and print resources for students, school counselors and teachers, and engineers; and a range of outreach and marketing activities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Julie BenyoPatrick NataleF. Suzanne Jenniches
This collaborative project aims to establish a national computational resource to move the research community much closer to the realization of the goal of the Tree of Life initiative, namely, to reconstruct the evolutionary history of all organisms. This goal is the computational Grand Challenge of evolutionary biology. Current methods are limited to problems several orders of magnitude smaller, and they fail to provide sufficient accuracy at the high end of their range. The planned resource will be designed as an incubator to promote the development of new ideas for this enormously challenging computational task; it will create a forum for experimentalists, computational biologists, and computer scientists to share data, compare methods, and analyze results, thereby speeding up tool development while also sustaining current biological research projects. The resource will be composed of a large computational platform, a collection of interoperable high-performance software for phylogenetic analysis, and a large database of datasets, both real and simulated, and their analyses; it will be accessible through any Web browser by developers, researchers, and educators. The software, freely available in source form, will be usable on scales varying from laptops to high-performance, Grid-enabled, compute engines such as this project's platform, and will be packaged to be compatible with current popular tools. In order to build this resource, this collaborative project will support research programs in phyloinformatics (databases to store multilevel data with detailed annotations and to support complex, tree-oriented queries), in optimization algorithms, Bayesian inference, and symbolic manipulation for phylogeny reconstruction, and in simulation of branching evolution at the genomic level, all within the context of a virtual collaborative center. Biology, and phylogeny in particular, have been almost completely redefined by modern information technology, both in terms of data acquisition and in terms of analysis. Phylogeneticists have formulated specific models and questions that can now be addressed using recent advances in database technology and optimization algorithms. The time is thus exactly right for a close collaboration of biologists and computer scientists to address the IT issues in phylogenetics, many of which call for novel approaches, due to a combination of combinatorial difficulty and overall scale. The project research team includes computer scientists working in databases, algorithm design, algorithm engineering, and high-performance computing, evolutionary biologists and systematists, bioinformaticians, and biostatisticians, with a history of successful collaboration and a record of fundamental contributions, to provide the required breadth and depth. This project will bring together researchers from many areas and foster new types of collaborations and new styles of research in computational biology; moreover, the interaction of algorithms, databases, modeling, and biology will give new impetus and new directions in each area. It will help create the computational infrastructure that the research community will use over the next decades, as more whole genomes are sequenced and enough data are collected to attempt the inference of the Tree of Life. The project will help evolutionary biologists understand the mechanisms of evolution, the relationships among evolution, structure, and function of biomolecules, and a host of other research problems in biology, eventually leading to major progress in ecology, pharmaceutics, forensics, and security. The project will publicize evolution, genomics, and bioinformatics through informal education programs at museum partners of the collaborating institutions. It also will motivate high-school students and college undergraduates to pursue careers in bioinformatics. The project provides an extraordinary opportunity to train students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as postdoctoral researchers, in one of the most exciting interdisciplinary areas in science. The collaborating institutions serve a large number of underrepresented groups and are committed to increasing their participation in research.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Tandy WarnowDavid HillisLauren MeyersDaniel MirankerWarren Hunt, Jr.
The National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED) is a Science and Technology Center focused on understanding the processes that shape the Earth's surface, and on communicating that understanding with a broad range of stakeholders. NCED's work will support a larger, community-based effort to develop a suite of quantitative models of the Earth's surface: a Community Sediment Model (CSM). Results of the NCED-CSM collaboration will be used for both short-term prediction of surface response to natural and anthropogenic change and long-term interpretation of how past conditions are recorded in landscapes and sedimentary strata. This will in turn help solve pressing societal problems such as estimation and mitigation of landscape-related risk; responsible management of landscape resources including forests, agricultural, and recreational areas; forecasting landscape response to possible climatic and other changes; and wise development of resources like groundwater and hydrocarbons that are hosted in buried sediments. NCED education and knowledge transfer programs include exhibits and educational programs at the Science Museum of Minnesota, internships and programs for students from tribal colleges and other underrepresented populations, and research opportunities for participants from outside core NCED institutions. The Earth's surface is the dynamic interface among the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. It is intimately interwoven with the life that inhabits it. Surface processes span environments ranging from high mountains to the deep ocean and time scales from fractions of a second to millions of years. Because of this range in forms, processes, and scales, the study of surface dynamics has involved many disciplines and approaches. A major goal of NCED is to foster the development of a unified, quantitative science of Earth-surface dynamics that combines efforts in geomorphology, civil engineering, biology, sedimentary geology, oceanography, and geophysics. Our research program has four major themes: (1) landscape evolution, (2) basin evolution, (3) biological sediment dynamics, and (4) integration of morphodynamic processes across environments and scales. Each theme area provides opportunities for exchange of information and ideas with a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers and learners at all levels; researchers, managers, and policy makers in both the commercial and public sectors; and the general public.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Efi Foufoula-GeorgiouChristopher PaolaGary Parker
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted a summative evaluation of the second season of NOVA scienceNOW, the PBS series that explores cutting-edge scientific and technological innovation in real time. (GRG also served as the external evaluator for NOVA scienceNOW during Season One). In addition to the television series, WGBH-TV developed a companion website, a series of high school classroom activities, and a Science Cafe outreach initiative, designed to discuss, in non-academic environments, the latest developments in science. The Season Two evaluation included: 1) a viewer study
To find out if zoos and aquariums successfully promote conservation, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) formed strategic partnerships and undertook a three-year, nationwide study of the impacts of a visit to a zoo or aquarium. We found that going to AZA accredited zoos and aquariums in North America does have a measurable impact on the conservation attitudes and understanding of adult visitors.
Carl Batt of Cornell University is a Discovery Corps Senior Fellow for the 2007-2008 academic year. the natural ability of bacterial surface-layer proteins to self-assemble into two-dimensional, nanoscale arrays. These biological arrays will be exploited to produce a variety of nanoscale structures, including silicon nano pillars, which have potential use in new optical and electronic devices. Batt will use the scientific discoveries arising from his research to expand outreach to the public through interactive, traveling museum exhibits and to develop improved models for understanding and describing nanoscale phenomena. The goals of the project include the development of the "Chronicles of a Science Experiment," which will provide the public with a view of the evolution of a science project over time. This Discovery Corps Senior Fellowship is supported by the Division of Chemistry and the Informal Science Education (ISE) program of the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (EHR/DRL). The Discovery Corps Fellowship Program seeks new postdoctoral and professional development models that combine research expertise with professional service. Discovery Corps Fellows leverage their research expertise through projects that address areas of national need.