Community Development and Education Core

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

The Duke Multiscale Immune Systems Modeling Center of Excellence (CoE) Community Development and Education Core (CDEC) is designed to unite and support the community of infectious and immune-mediated diseases (IID) modelers, both within the CoE and in the broader IID modeling community. The CDEC will serve as a central hub for mentorship, training, and collaboration, with particular focus on supporting the needs of early-stage investigators (ESI) and investigators new to multiscale modeling research to foster the next generation of transdisciplinary biomedical and quantitative scientists. The CDEC will provide much needed educational and mentoring activities for students, postdoctoral fellows, ESI and investigators from diverse communities through achievement of the following aims: (1) Develop a Community of Learning to provide mentorship and training for ESI interested in modeling IID across biological scales; (2) Develop a Community of Practice to support and enhance collaboration, research development, and mentoring opportunities for IID modelers; and (3) Organize an annual conference to unite the modeling community, sharing experiences, technologies, and methods, and fostering collaborations with NIAID programs and staff. To establish the Community of Learning, the CDEC will leverage the rich research and mentoring support already existing at Duke, and tailor new offerings focused on building institutional, regional, and national capacity for research to advance and integrate models across biological scales for infectious diseases. The CDEC will also offer two new scholar programs to develop graduate students and postdoctoral fellows respectively and provide professional development and team science training coordinated with the Demonstrative Core. To establish the Community of Practice, the CDEC will build the infrastructure to support the IID Modeler Network (IIDMN), based on the highly successful University of Michigan Applied Biostatistical Sciences (ABS) network building framework. The CDEC will also develop opportunities for IID community collaboration, such as the monthly multiscale modeling webinar, and networking events at the Annual Meeting. The Annual Conference organized by the CDEC will also be an avenue to disseminate the infrastructure, tools, and models developed by the CoE, and establish new collaborative working groups with other NIAID modeling groups. The CDEC will have transdisciplinary multi- principal investigator leadership and will include a Steering Committee comprised of ESI with complementary expertise in computational and experimental sciences. The proposed program will implement proven and innovative strategies to improve training, connections, and workforce development opportunities for researchers across the country. The CDEC’s efforts will focus on building successful trans-disciplinary communication and team science collaboration and will significantly contribute to the COE’s mission by providing an enriched environment for innovative research and promoting the growth of ESI and investigators new to IID multi-scale modeling.