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This IGERT project is a multidisciplinary training program addressing two needs that are critical if society is to benefit from technological discoveries: (i) preparation of a professional workforce with the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate innovation, and (ii) research that improves our understanding of how business organizations and economic… more »

This IGERT project is a multidisciplinary training program addressing two needs that are critical if society is to benefit from technological discoveries: (i) preparation of a professional workforce with the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate innovation, and (ii) research that improves our understanding of how business organizations and economic, regulatory, and legal mechanisms promote or impede the development and diffusion of new technologies.

Faculty from the joint Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University Department of Biomedical Engineering and NSF-Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Engineering of Human Tissues, Manufacturing Research Center, Microelectronics Research Center, Microelectromechanical Systems, and NSF-ERC Packaging Research Center are collaborating with faculty in the Georgia Tech DuPree College of Management, Emory Law School, and Emory Economics Department. Central to the program are teams of NSF-funded PhD students, cost-shared Master of Business Administration (MBA), and Doctor of Jurisprudence students (JD) who participate over a two year period in activities focused on technical, market, and legal issues related to the science and engineering (S&E) students’ research. This multidisciplinary team approach is designed to (i) provide S&E students with the skills and multidisciplinary perspective needed to succeed in industry, (ii) produce S&E dissertations of technical merit and market relevance, (iii) facilitate dissertations in management and law & economics that improve our understanding of innovation, and (iv) provide MBAs and JDs with practical experience in a technical research environment.

Educational features include two graduate level courses on the Fundamentals of Innovation and a case course developed specifically for this IGERT that all student participants take as a community of students, universities-wide seminar & workshop on Innovation Fundamentals, Intellectual Property Track for the JDs and PhDs in Law & Economics, a Minor in the Management of Innovation for S&E PhDs, a formal mechanism to initiate management and law & economics research at the doctoral level on innovation, internships and frequent interaction with industrial partners, and an annual Doctoral Research Institute on Innovation for graduate students invited from universities nationwide.

IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fifth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. « less