VCU receives grant for summer program to encourage students to seek biomedical careers

By Lorraine Cichowski and Gregory Buck

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University has started recruiting students for a new summer institute that will launch June 1.  Funded by a $660,000, four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, the institute is aimed at encouraging more young adults to pursue careers in bioengineering and bioinformatics.

Co-directors of the interdisciplinary summer institute are Gregory A. Buck, Ph.D., director of VCU’s Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, and Gerald E. Miller, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering. The program will be directed by Jeff Elhai, Ph.D., associate professor of biology in the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity. 

The goal of the VCU Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institute is to introduce students with backgrounds in engineering, biological sciences, computer sciences, mathematics and physical sciences to intensive education and hands-on research in bioengineering and bioinformatics in efforts to increase the number of students considering careers in those areas. 

The institute will be conducted during 10-week sessions held in each of two consecutive summers. Students will conduct their own research in an area of bioengineering or bioinformatics as well as be exposed to respected specialists in those fields from VCU, government and industry.

Applications will be accepted from upper-level undergraduate students and early graduate students. VCU will accept 12 students per summer and pay students’ housing, meals, travel and other expenses as well as provide stipends. The deadline for applications is March 15.

NIH and NSF are providing a total of $6 million over four years to fund the joint programs at nine universities, including VCU.  Summer institutes also will be held at California State University, Clemson University, Iowa State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, University of Minnesota and University of Pittsburgh.

The summer institutes are a priority of NIH and NSF, which are collaborating in efforts to encourage the interdisciplinary training and development of professionals who will work on the next generation of disease diagnosis and therapy, biotechnology and drug discovery.

The Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institute is consistent with the focus of VCU Life Sciences, an initiative which combines innovative undergraduate and graduate-level courses taught by faculty from both the medical and academic campuses, cutting-edge multidisciplinary research facilities and aggressive public education projects as a comprehensive response to the 21st century revolution in the life sciences.