Achievement

Our trainees are contributing to planning for Indoor Air 2011, a major triennial international conference (1,100 abstracts were received from 51 countries) that coincides with the last official month of our IGERT program; the University of Texas would not be hosting 1,200 to 1,500 researchers from around the world had it not been for the foundation built by our IGERT program. An interdisciplinary group of IGERT trainees and affiliates are designing and will implement a robust two-day symposium on Indoor Air Quality and Cook Stoves in Developing Countries as part of the Indoor Air 2011 technical program. Trainees have been recruiting and coordinating speakers (24 podium presentations), including IGERT trainees from other programs, and are also designing a workshop on future research needs and the development of a summary paper for a journal that will follow from symposium discussions. This has been a major professional development experience for our trainees during the past year.