IE/IGERT Project Referenced in The Scientist
IGERT/IE Partnership
The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program, initiated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1997, now comprises approximately 125 award sites. The IGERT program was developed to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists, engineers, and educators with the interdisciplinary backgrounds, deep knowledge in chosen disciplines, and technical, professional, and personal skills to become in their own careers the leaders and creative agents for change. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education, for students, faculty, and institutions, by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries in ways that significantly impact society. It is also intended to facilitate greater diversity in student participation and preparation, and to contribute to the development of a diverse, globally-engaged science and engineering workforce.
Promoting cross-disciplinary learning environments and incubating methods that leverage knowledge for social good have also been central tenets of Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) since it was conceived in 1997. Not surprisingly, therefore, IE has become an obvious and logical platform for assisting in the delivery of IGERT programs at UT--something that was strongly encouraged by program officers at NSF prior to funding. As both an educational vision and method for connecting people, ideas, disciplines and institutions, IE offers training modules, courses and consultation to campus IGERT programs (and other initiatives sharing the IE and IGERT vision of education).
Beginning in the spring of 2005, IE will serve as the educational philosophy and pedagogical engine for BME 385J, a course on Technology Assessment and Transfer. This class (to be cross-listed in other science and engineering departments) will be offered to students in UT's IGERT program in "Cellular and Molecular Imaging for Diagnostics and Therapeutics."
BME 385J Technology Assessment and Transfer
UT IGERT program in Cellular and Molecular Imaging for Diagnostics and Therapeutics