Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH.  The over-arching goal of this NIBIB R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs. 

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on Courses for Skills Development.

This FOA seeks to support programs that  include innovative approaches to enhance biomedical engineering design education to ensure a future workforce that can meet the nation’s needs in biomedical research and healthcare technologies.  

Applications are encouraged from institutions that propose to establish new or to enhance existing team-based design courses or programs in undergraduate biomedical engineering departments or other degree-granting programs with biomedical engineering tracks/minors. This FOA targets the education of undergraduate biomedical engineering/bioengineering students in a team-based environment. While current best practices such as multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary education, introduction to the regulatory pathway and other issues related to the commercialization of medical devices, and clinical immersion remain encouraged components of a strong BME program, this FOA also challenges institutions to propose other novel, innovative and/or ground-breaking activities that can form the basis of the next generation of biomedical engineering design education.  

Number of Applications
1
Amount of Funding

Direct costs of up to $20,000 per year may be requested.  Programs that include a clinical immersion program outside the academic year and lasting 6 to 10 weeks may request an additional $20,000 to cover participant costs (see Participant Costs section below), yielding a total of $40,000 in direct costs.

Eligibility

The PD/PI should be an established investigator in the scientific area in which the application is targeted and capable of providing both administrative and scientific leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program. The PD/PI will be expected to monitor and assess the program and submit all documents and reports as required.

The PD/PI should be an established investigator in biomedical engineering or a related field, and should possess relevant experience required to coordinate, supervise, and direct the proposed design course/program.

Participants

Individuals selected for participation in this program must be undergraduate students majoring or minoring in biomedical engineering/bioengineering.  While only formally designated participants may receive support during a clinical immersion period, students pursuing studies in departments and disciplines relevant to medical device design and translation are encouraged to participate in courses or in team design projects where the teams mostly consist of biomedical engineering/ bioengineering students.

    Submission Process

    Step 1

    Internal deadline for LOI submission is no later than 5:00 p.m. on April 12, 2019. Materials should be submitted to Stephanie Endy at stephanie.endy@case.edu. LOI submissions should include the following in a single PDF file:

    1. One page cover letter including the name of the lead PI, title of the proposal, and a list of all proposed program faculty and their departments
    2. NSF style biosketch for lead PI only
    3. A one page description of the proposed research education program
    4. A letter of support from the school or college that will be hosting the program
    Step 2

    Final nominees will be notified of their selection by April 19, 2019.

    Step 3

    Final proposal must be received by the Office of Research Administration by May 24, 2019 at 5:00pm EST.

    Step 4

    Final proposal must be received by the sponsor by May 31, 2019 at 5:00pm EST.

    Deadlines

    Abstract or LOI to ORA Chosen Proposal Announced ORA Final Proposal Due Date Sponsor Submission Deadline Days Until Due
    04/12/2019 04/19/2019 05/24/2019 05/31/2019 CLOSED