Andrea Holgado
$401,980
Yingfeng Wang
University of Tennessee Chattanooga
Tennessee
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).<br/><br/>This REU Site award to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), located in Chattanooga, TN, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2022- 2024. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities or from a group under-represented in science, will be trained in the program. Students will learn to conduct multi-disciplinary computational research in the fields of cell biology, epidemiology, biodiversity, protein structure, biomechanics, ecology, bacterial membranes, climate, environmental sustainability, or others. Assessment of the program will be done through the online SALG URSSA tool. Students will be tracked after the program to determine their career paths. <br/><br/>Students participating in iCompBio will receive training in multidisciplinary research. Students will engage in mentored research experiences in computational biology across multiple research fields. In addition to short bootcamps and workshops on classical computational training such as bioinformatics, high-performance computing, mathematical modeling, and statistical analysis, iCompBio will provide research training in the application of machine-learning/deep learning, and quantum computing in computational biology, as well as research ethics and the responsible conduct of research. Research projects will take place in host labs under the guidance of research mentors. Students will meet weekly for joint computing workshops, research project troubleshooting, and to share their experiences and lessons learned. Informal lunch meetings will be held to discuss topics such as career choices, equity in research, and work-life balance with mentors, graduate students, or guests. Multiple group outings to local and regional attractions will be taken. Two research seminars will be held with other UTC-based summer research programs. Students interested in the program should complete an online application form, and submit unofficial transcripts, personal statement, resume/CV, and two letters of recommendation. Applications will be reviewed by a team of faculty. More information about the program is available by visiting http://utc.edu/icompbio or by contacting the PI (Dr. Hong Qin at hong-qin@utc.edu ) or the co-PI (Dr. Yingfeng Wang at yingfeng-wang@utc.edu).<br/><br/>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.