A CRCD Project at Michigan State, “Multidisciplinary Bioprocessing
Curriculum,”(EEC 9872431) integrates expertise from a variety
of disciplines, including biochemistry, microbiology, chemistry,
botany, and chemical engineering. Multidisciplinary teams are used
for this purpose in industry. However, traditional curricula do
not provide students with training or experience in multidisciplinary
teamwork. The Multidisciplinary Bioprocessing Laboratory (MBL) course
was developed to meet this need. |
 |
| A schema
of the areas of discipline and how they are distrubuted. |
|
The concept of the MBL course is shown
schematically above (right). Senior undergraduate and graduate students
from a variety of departments are recruited into the course and
assigned into multidisciplinary teams. Each student team carries
out a semester-long research project in the laboratory of one of
the participating faculty (advisor).
The team works closely with a research mentor—a senior graduate
student or postdoctoral student in the faculty member’s laboratory.
All students share common recitation periods, where they learn professional
skills, participate in discussions with industrial representatives,
present their research results, and have an opportunity to interact
with the other student teams. An extensive web site has been developed
to help disseminate the course concept and materials (http://www.egr.msu.edu/che/classes/491).
The CRCD grant led to a new Multidisciplinary Graduate Training
Program in Technologies for a Biobased Economy (TBE) at MSU. The
goal of this program is to produce a diverse group of Ph.D. scientists
and engineers having broad training relevant to the development
of commercial products from renewable (biobased) raw materials.
Fellowship support for the Program is being provided through a Department
of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)
grant (8 Ph.D. fellowships) and a Department of Energy Biobased
Products Industry (BPI) grant (2 Ph.D. fellowships). |
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