The National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded the Laney Graduate School a grant for $1.8 million to further training opportunities in the sciences.
The Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) award, led by Marcus Professor of Cystic Fibrosis in the Department of Pediatrics Nael McCarty, is specifically tailored for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduate and postdoctoral students.
A total of 50 students from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory will be selected to enroll in the program for two years. According to an Oct. 3 University press release, the students will have access to a wide variety of resources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and pharmaceutical companies.
Laney Graduate School Dean Lisa Tedesco said STEM advances are having an incredible impact.
"Working with colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the BEST award will allow us to develop a collaborative training experience for a new generation of STEM graduate students and post-docs," McCarty, the principal investigator, said.
Other universities that are among the first to receive the BEST awards include Cornell University, Vanderbilt University, Wayne State University, University of California–Davis and the New York University School of Medicine, according to the press release.
Georgia is a "hotbed of great science and wonderful interactive research," NIH Director Francis Collins said.
"There are remarkable achievements made every day, and at NIH, we're counting on that," Collins said. "The joint venture between Emory and Georgia Tech has enabled great collaboration in the biomedical field."
The award is supported through the NIH Common Fund's "Strengthening the Biomedical Research Workforce" program.
According to a Sept. 23 NIH press release, the workforce addresses concerns about biomedical research, especially with the long time it takes to obtain a Ph.D. and the declining percentage of Ph.D. graduates.
As Emory continues its biomedical research, the NIH will continue to give BEST awards to increase interest in biomedical research. A second round of NIH awards are anticipated later in 2013, the NIH press release states.
– By Brandon Fuhr
