Achievement

A programmatic goal of the IGERT was to train a new generation of student in the techniques of interfacing engineered systems to neural tissue. One of the by-products of this training has been the creation of a sizeable demand for engineering PhD students to work for neuroscientists. Five neuroscience faculty at Emory University have advised over 15 IGERT fellows over the course of the IGERT funding. While the IGERT funding has now ended, this demand has continued, and we routinely place Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering PhD students in Neuroscience labs at Emory University. Evidence of this demand is financial: while Neuroscience PhD students are no cost to the PI for the first 18 months and engineering students must be paid for from day one, these faculty and other still seek to hire our PhD students with every new incoming class. The success of the IGERT program has built a reputation that attracts these kind of students to our PhD programs.