Mission Statement

Develop innovative education, outreach, and training programs across EBICS that will prepare students to become future researchers and education leaders in the new discipline.

Objectives

To produce the next generation of researchers and a supporting community to nucleate and develop the nascent discipline for building living, multi-cellular machines. This requires a diverse group of leaders who are equally proficient in biology and engineering, prepared for future challenges in their careers in a global environment.

The EBICS education plan involves:

• developing a two-track, integrated graduate course that effectively merges the essential sciences & technologies needed to advance this new field
• establishing a graduate teaching consortium to offer a selection of synchronous & asynchronous courses
• disseminating teaching materials through EBICS Online & OpenCourseWare (OCW)
• nurturing the students’ leadership abilities by forming a student council
• enriching the students’ international experiences by internships with our international collaborators
• supporting student participation in GEM4 summer schools
• recruiting women and underrepresented minorities to participate in the EBICS summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program 
• participating in student career development workshops and mentoring programs 

Directors for Education

K. Jimmy Hsia, PhD - University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Lizanne DeStefano, PhD - University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Education Program Manager

Phoebe E. Lenear, PhD - University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign