Since it began in 2019, Georgia Tech and Emory University’s Computational Neural-Engineering Training Program has funded and trained doctoral students at the intersection of neuroscience, engineering, computation, and clinical experience.  

“We saw that there was a new kind of neuroscience that was happening, to both understand the mysteries of the brain and nervous system and to treat related diseases and disorders,” says Garrett Stanley, program co-director, professor, and McCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair in the Walter H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME). “The program was created to fill this gap in training, and to provide a community for like-minded scientists and engineers across these disciplines.” 

Combined with support from Georgia Tech and Emory, that community is set to grow with recently renewed and increased funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

“We’re excited to expand the number of students funded and continue to grow our programs,” says Lena Ting, program co-director, professor, and McCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair in BME. “With this funding, we’ll continue to attract the best and brightest students.” 

Expanding Access 

Through courses, research, professional development, and community outreach, the two-year program provides unprecedented training and community for doctoral students in BME, electrical and computational engineering, neuroscience, machine learning, and beyond.

“Our program is unique in that it combines computation — both how the brain computes and how we can use computational tools to better understand the brain — and engineering of technologies for interfacing with the brain and nervous system,” says Stanley, who also co-directs the Neural Engineering Center with Ting. 

Students are also exposed to neurology, rehabilitation, and other related fields through clinical course requirements. 

“We teach our students alongside physical therapy and occupational therapy students to solve clinically relevant problems,” explains Ting, who teaches several of the courses. “We think early exposure to such clinical problems can accelerate the translation of basic research to the clinic.”  

Originally slated to last five years, funding for the program comes from the T32 program of institutional training grants by the NIH and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Michael Borich, associate professor in the Emory University School of Medicine, and Chris Rozell, professor and Julian T. Hightower Chair in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, also serve as directors of the program. 

“The NIH T32 funding mechanism is great because it enables universities to create training programs that span different traditional disciplines,” says Stanley. Without the need to create entirely new academic units, training programs like these provide funding for students conducting interdisciplinary research. Since the funding isn’t tied to a specific research group, it also gives students the flexibility to rotate through multiple labs to find the best fit. “In other words, it’s a game changer.” 

With NIH funding renewed and expanded by 50%, the program will now have the capacity to fund more trainees. 

“I love to see the program grow so more of our students and faculty can benefit,” said Ting. “Thanks to generous funding from Georgia Tech, we will also be able to support international students now, something we couldn’t do in the past.” 

In addition to support from the NIH, Emory University School of Medicine, and the joint Georgia Tech-Emory BME Department, the program is further bolstered by support from Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering and the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research. 

“While the NIH funding enables us to support the salary and tuition for students,” said Stanley, “local support from Georgia Tech and Emory enables us to not only manage the growing program and provide reporting back to the NIH, but also to provide student-initiated training workshops in emerging technical areas, career development activities, training in neuroethics, and social events that help to bring the community together.” 

The community, he said, is the “most exciting and significant part of this. The network of talented people brought together through this program will be valuable and influential for years to come.”