REU Site: Injury Science Research Experience for Undergraduates

The Children'S Hospital Of Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Injuries and violence remain the leading causes of death and acquired disability for children, youth, and young adults in the U.S. and worldwide. The Injury Science Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CHRP) provides a personalized internship experience for a pool of talented interns with the aim of inspiring the pursuit of careers in science, technology, and engineering. This Site immerses interns in a 10-week rigorous, interdisciplinary program of mentored scholarly research, professional development, and graduate school preparation that results in a broadened awareness of STEM career opportunities. The overarching goal is to provide research training designed to encourage and enable students from STEM-limited schools to pursue advanced degrees, and ultimately, careers in science and engineering. Students benefit from an increase in knowledge, develop interest in science and engineering, gain professional development, develop the ability to solve real-world problems, and prepare to optimize technology for safety solutions through user-centered, participatory design and human factors research. Traffic injuries and violence have substantially increased, fueled by societal changes and the pandemic. This requires innovative ideas and an expanded workforce focused on injury science to effectively develop and implement novel prevention strategies. The Injury Science Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CHRP) provides a personalized internship experience for a diverse pool of talented interns with the aim of inspiring the pursuit of careers in science, technology, and engineering. This REU site renewal project focuses on the leading injury risks to children – traffic crashes, sports-related injury, and violence. Students will have access to and engage in research projects with faculty using large, unique datasets through data science; leverage large clinical exposure of human factors engineering (to optimize safe driving and care delivery during crises); employ neuroscience preeminence for bench-to-bedside translational science (animal models, virtual reality and magnetoencephalographic assessments, and head impact sensors); and interact with a large clinical population to advance pediatric rehabilitation. A cohort of 8 interns each year will engage in Injury Science to advance research and training innovations that elucidate injury mechanisms and develop novel prevention strategies and technologies as the future injury science workforce. New for this renewal are increased recruitment levels from STEM-limited schools. 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.