Optional Workshop for EFRI Grantees

“From EFRI Grantee to NSF Center: Models for Continued Success after EFRI”
Sohi Rastegar, Director, Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research & Innovation (ENG / EFRI), NSF

Learn about the goals and features of other center-based funding opportunities at NSF. How will you continue to advance the frontiers of research and innovation? Time for Q&A. Light refreshments available

This session is geared toward the EFRI Grantee Classes of 2008 and 2009, but all are welcome to attend. Pre-registration is required

Potomac Salons AB*, Lobby Level

*Please check in at registration in the Capital View Ballroom on the 14th floor before joining this workshop

General Session I - NSF Welcome and EFRI Program Updates

Tom Peterson, Assistant Director, Directorate for Engineering (ENG / OAD), NSF

Sohi Rastegar, Director, Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (ENG / EFRI), NSF

Ann Becker, President, Ann Becker and Associates, Inc.

Topic Area: Engineering New Technologies Based on Multicellular and Inter-kingdom Signaling (MIKS) 
Theresa Good and Alex Simonian, Program Directors

(1) Beth Pruitt, "Force Sensing and Remodeling by Cell-Cell Junctions in Multicellular Tissues," Stanford University

(2) Dacheng Ren, "Deciphering and Controlling the Signaling Processes in Bacterial Multicellular Systems and Bacteria-Host Interactions," Syracuse University 

(3) Jeffrey Tabor, "Harnessing Intercellular Signaling to Engineer Pattern Formation," Rice University 

(4) Michael Elowitz, "NOTCH Signaling in Colon Cancer Stem Cells," California Institute of Technology - Presented by Xiling Shen

(5) Nancy Keller, "Microfluidic-Based Screening of Multi-Kingdom Microbial Communication Molecules," University of Wisconsin Madison

(6) Ranjan Srivastava, "Innovations for Next Generation Biomanufacturing and Microengineering," University of Connecticut

(7) Rustem Ismagilov, "Control of Signaling and Function by Design with Spatially Pre-Structured Microbial Communities," California Institute of Technology

(8) Stanislav Shvartsman, "Multiscale Analysis of Morphogen Gradients," Princeton University - Presented by Hang Lu

Topic Area: Mind, Machines, and Motor Control (M3C) 
Kishan Baheti, Program Director

(9) Daniel Moran, "Development of New Algorithmic Models and Tools to Enhance Neural Adaptation in Brain Computer Interface Systems," Washington University in St. Louis

(10) Gert Cauwenberghs, "Distributed Brain Dynamics in Human Motor Control," University of California San Diego - Presented by Frederic Broccard

(11) Jose Carmena, "A Hybrid Control Systems Approach to Brain-Machine Interfaces for Exoskeleton Control," University of California Berkeley

(12) Lena Ting, "Partnered Rehabilitative Movement: Cooperative Human-Robot Interactions for Motor Assistance, Learning, and Communication," Emory University

(13) Sridevi Sarma, "Robust Decoder-Compensator Architecture for Interactive Control of High-Speed and Loaded Movements," The Johns Hopkins University

(14) Zhigang Zhu, "Mobility Skill Acquisition and Learning through Alternative and Multimodal Perception for Visually Impaired People," City College of City University of New York

Topic Area Work Groups
*Students participate until 4:00pm, and then spend the remaining hour in the "Progress Reports" Student Session with Sohi

The topic area work groups are an opportunity for EFRI grantees to meet within their topic areas with NSF EFRI Program Directors to help further their research objectives in whatever way is most beneficial to that topic area. Each work group is beign conceptualized -- with specific objectives and outcomes identifiedin advance -- developed, and facilitated by a PD / PI team with input from the other PDs in the topic area. Individual work group agendas will be posted and updated as they are received

Class of 2008

COPN - Madison Room, 3rd Floor

Semahat Demir, PD, and Kumar Venayagamoorthy, PI, Facilitators

RESIN - Jackson Room, 3rd Floor

Bruce Hamilton, PD, and Kevin Lansey, PI, Facilitators

Class of 2009

BSBA - Potomac A, Lobby Level

Leon Esterowitz, PD, and Arto Nurmikko, PI, Facilitators

HyBi - Jefferson Room, 3rd Floor

George Antos, PD, and Amy Grunden, PI, Facilitators

Class of 2010

RESTOR- Lincoln Room, 3rd Floor

Ashok Sangani, PD, and Peter Pintauro, PI, Facilitators

SEED - Potomac B, Lobby Level

Rick Fragaszy, PD, and Kamin Whitehouse, PI, Facilitators

Class of 2011

M3C - Potomac C, Lobby Level

Kishan Baheti, PD, and Jose Carmena, PI, Facilitators

MIKS - Potomac D, Lobby Level

Theresa Good and Alex Simonian, PDs, and Beth Pruitt, PI, Facilitators

Progress Reports: Student Session with Sohi

How is your experience with an EFRI grantee contributing to your scientific and personal growth? What do you want to learn or be exposed to that you haven’t already? What can you, your PI, or the EFRI Program in general do to help maximize the value of your involvement to your future plans? Students share their comments, questions, and ideas in advance of the Conference, and then sit down for a conversation with Sohi on ways to achieve maximum benefit from the EFRI experience

Resources for Students:

Proposal Writing Basics

Small Business Innovative Research Opportunity

I-Corp: Innovation Corp

General Session II

“Capitalizing on the Ebb and Flow of Research: What data from real-world projects reveal about the use of high- and low-risk strategies in invention and discovery”

Kevin Dunbar, Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland, and PI, Laboratory for Complex Thinking and Reasoning: Brains, Genes, Cognition

“For the past 20 years we have been investigating researchers in their laboratories; how they design their projects, interpret data, structure their teams and deal with both success and failure.  We have investigated molecular biologists, immunologists, and biochemists conducting engineering type projects in the USA, Canada, and Italy. Using data from videotapes and audiotapes of meetings, as well as interviews with the researchers at different stages in their careers, we have been able to discover key combinations of thinking strategies, risk taking, and social interactions that can either propel a project forward or, in some cases, prevent researchers from capitalizing on their early successes.  In particular we have found that a persistent hurdle in research is how to deal with the unexpected.

“Researchers love to quote Pasteur and say that ‘chance favors the prepared mind.’  But Pasteur failed to tell us what chance really means for a high-risk project and what strategies the prepared mind takes to harness the all too often chance events. We have gone back into my laboratory and conducted investigations of these issues using neuroimaging and behavioral research to determine some of the cognitive and social mechanisms that together can free investigators from their preconceptions and biases.  I will discuss how the use of specific research strategies, data analytic approaches, and social structure of a research group can lead to success or failure. Furthermore, I will argue that the use of these strategies needs to be modulated by the maturity of the research program in which the engineers are engaged.

“A final issue that I will address is that most research projects are also learning situations for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.  How students are trained has enormous effects on the success of research, yet engineers have little training in how to conduct this important teaching and mentorship role that shapes both their current research and a generation of future engineers.”

General Session III

"Communicating with Policymakers and the Public"

Al Teich, Senior Policy Advisor (Ret.), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Convener and Moderator