OCTOBER 15, 2002 - NIBIB AND NSF ANNOUNCE JOINT AWARDS TO SUPPORT BIOENGINEERING AND BIOINFORMATICS SUMMER INSTITUTES

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have announced the awarding of nine grants through a joint program to support Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institutes (BBSI). The institutes consist of ten-week summer sessions for undergraduate (rising junior and rising senior) and graduate (entering the first two years of graduate school) students with quantitative science majors and are aimed at encouraging the students to pursue biomedical careers. The NIBIB and the NSF are providing a total of $6 million over four years to fund the institutes.

The funded BBSI's are at California State University, Clemson University, Iowa State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Penn State University, University of Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh, and Virginia Commonwealth University. The first institutes will be conducted during the summer of 2003, and a meeting of the grantees is planned for late 2002 or early 2003 to discuss programs and approaches.

This program resulted from the recognition that research using integrative and multi-disciplinary approaches based on the quantitative and biomedical sciences has produced significant benefits and promises important future advances in disease diagnosis and therapy, understanding biological processes, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. To support multi-disciplinary research, the NIH and NSF make significant investments in research, research training, and career development in the fields of bioengineering and bioinformatics. To fully realize the promise of these efforts, the availability of future generations of highly-trained professionals in these fields must be assured.

The development of trained professionals in these areas requires opportunities and support all along the career continuum including the high school, undergraduate, pre-doctoral, post-doctoral, junior career, and senior career levels. Considering the nature of bioengineering and bioinformatics, effective training and education programs require trans- and cross-disciplinary interaction between the engineering, physical, and computational sciences and the biological and medical sciences. For more than a year, the NIH led by the NIBIB and the NSF led by the Division of Engineering Education and Centers in the Engineering Directorate have conducted collaborative efforts (1) to identify needs in multi-disciplinary research training, education, and career development at all levels and (2) to develop joint actions where appropriate to address these needs.

As a result of these collaborative efforts, a need was identified to encourage students majoring in the quantitative sciences to consider careers in bioengineering and bioinformatics . In the context of this effort, bioengineering and bioinformatics are defined in the broadest sense - the application of quantitative and computer science methods and techniques to address problems in biology and medicine. Community input indicated that this need could be effectively addressed at the undergraduate/graduate interface. In response, the NIH and NSF developed a joint program to support Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institutes aimed at providing hands-on biomedical research experience; exposure to biological and medical research needs and applications; experience with integrative, team-based research and problem solving; and some didactic training.

This collaborative effort was coordinated by Sohi Rastegar (NSF Program Manager), Richard Swaja (NIH/NIBIB Program Manager), Bettie Graham (NIH/NHGRI), Wyn Jennings (NSF), Lynn Preston (NSF), Walter Schaffer (NIH/OER), and Mariaileen Sourwine (NIH/NIBIB).

Source: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Virginia Commonwealth University
Date last modified: 7/2/03
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