By Andy Smith Collegian Staff
The University of Massachusetts announced yesterday that the National Science Foundation awarded a $3 million grant to a graduate program.
The Institute for Cellular Engineering (I.C.E.) received the grant to fund the training of graduate students in various aspects of biomedicine and biotechnology. The hope is to prepare UMass graduate students for life in one of the country’s emerging fields of employment.
This will include hands-on research opportunities in such fields as generating artificial organs and tissues, the study of biological pharmaceuticals and plant-derived fuels and processes that clean up contaminated wastewater and soils.
To go along with the research funding, part of the money will be allocated in the form of fellowships, which are merit-based scholarships. Twenty-five second and third-year graduate students will each receive $30,000 for two years.
“This is the first training program at the University designed specifically to address the interface between engineering and the life sciences,” said Susan Roberts, director of the I.C.E. and professor of chemical engineering at UMass.
Twenty faculty members from nine departments and three graduate programs at UMass are involved in an NSF-funded program called Interdisciplinary Research Training in Cellular Engineering. The program focuses on research in the field of cellular engineering, which integrates biology, chemical engineering, computer science, animal science, microbiology and materials science.
“Essentially, cellular engineering is applied cellular and molecular biology. By understanding basic cellular processes, cells can be directed to function optimally for specific applications,” said Roberts.
The I.C.E. is “a multidisciplinary, interdepartmental research initiative focused on coordinating and expanding cellular engineering educational and scholarly activities on campus and enabling translational research through strategic industry partnerships,” according to its Web site.
Some features of the program include summer workshops for both life scientists and engineers in the fundamentals of cellular engineering and a weekly research seminar series.
The school is currently in the process of creating a bioengineering-based industrial group of New England companies to work with UMass in an effort to build a regional workforce in cellular engineering.
“The primary outcome of this training program is establishing a well-trained workforce in state-of-the-art technologies,” said Roberts. “A workforce that is poised to take a leadership role in cellular engineering both in academia and industry.”
Andy Smith can be reached at [email protected].
