REU Site: Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering and Biomedical Data Sciences

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

The employment of biomedical engineers is projected to grow 23% over the period from 2019-2024, creating a critical need for those who can support the design, development and production of new devices, systems, and software used in healthcare. Advances in the biomedical sciences and medicine will increasingly depend upon the application of rigorous and quantitative engineering-based approaches to characterize and interrogate biological systems, as well as tools of data science for mining and analyzing the massive amounts of clinical and biological data needed to diagnose and treat disease going forward. To meet the growing need for workforce pipeline development specifically in the areas of systems bioengineering and biomedical data sciences, the REU Site in Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering and Biomedical Data Sciences at the University of Virginia will recruit and train ten undergraduate participants per summer in state-of-the-art systems bioengineering and biomedical data sciences research. While open to a broad national pool of top students in STEM, the REU Site will specifically target talented undergraduates majoring in STEM fields at institutions with limited research opportunities in the field, with an emphasis on recruiting students from underrepresented groups. The research experience and mentorship will help prepare these REU students for work in this fast-growing and pioneering field that would otherwise be unavailable to them at their home institutions. Faculty mentors will maintain continuing relationships with the participants after completing the program, helping to improve the likelihood that the students will remain in STEM. The overarching goal of the REU is to train a diverse corps of young engineers and scientists from a variety of STEM backgrounds and provide them with the skills, confidence, and mentorship necessary for successful careers in the exciting—and growing—area of systems bioengineering and biomedical data sciences. Students will be matched with faculty mentors for a 10-week summer research project, culminating in an abstract and public symposium, and with most students also having the opportunity to present at a national conference. The students will participate in collaborative, hands-on, and closely mentored projects that will immerse them in a combination of experimentation, computation, and data science. Students will acquire the practical skills, knowledge, ethical grounding, and communication skills necessary to be productive in advanced graduate study and be successfully employed in the modern biotechnology industry. The program will also provide students with career advising, grounding in research ethics, training in scientific communication, and ongoing mentorship after completion of the program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.