We would like to tell you about an exciting postdoctoral training program that is in place at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts! This program, called TEACRS (Training in Education and Critical Research Skills), is funded by the Institution Research and Career Development Award (IRACDA) mechanism of NIH-GMS.       

TEACRS is designed to prepare talented young scientists for the multiple demands of an academic career in biomedical research. Trainees spend on average 75% of their time conducting bench research and 25% of their time in career development activities. Teaching skills are developed through programs involving mentored classroom assignments at minority-serving institutions in the Boston area.  The training is supplemented by workshops on teaching methods, career opportunities in academia, and essential skills such as grant writing, mentoring, and scientific presentations.  The training components are sequenced to allow trainees to balance the activities and to build on previous experiences. TEACRS fellows receive up to four years of salary support and a yearly travel and supply allowance.

The application deadline for positions beginning in the fall of 2016 is March 1. 

Later applications will be considered if positions are available.  Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with no more than two years of postdoctoral training at the time of their appointment to the program. Commitment to the goals of the program, strong academic and research credentials and a demonstrated interest in teaching and mentoring will be important criteria used in the selection process.

For additional information on the TEACRS program and application procedures, please visit their website, or contact Claire or Jordan with questions. 

[This story initially appeared on the CSEE website]

CSEE Professor Tinoosh Mohsenin received a $212,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for a three-year project that will develop a heterogeneous ultra low-power accelerator for wearable biomedical computing. The work will be done in collaboration with researchers at George Mason University and students in the UMBC Energy Efficient High Performance Computing Lab.

With the rapid advances in small, low-cost wearable computing technologies, there is a tremendous opportunity to develop personal health monitoring devices capable of continuous vigilant monitoring of physiological signals. Wearable biomedical devices have the potential to reduce the morbidity, mortality, and economic cost associated with many chronic diseases by enabling early intervention and preventing costly hospitalizations. These low-power systems require to have the capacity to provide fast and accurate processing and interpretation of vast amounts of data and generate smart alarms only when warranted. The project will build the foundation of the next generation of heterogeneous biomedical signal processing platforms that can address the current and future generation energy-efficiency requirements and computational demands.

The interdisciplinary project is expected to inspire and enable new approaches to healthcare monitoring, and can significantly impact several fields including human-centered cyber-physical systems, cyber-security, mobile communications, bioinformatics and applications that require high performance and energy efficient embedded computing from different sensors.