PROJECT SUMMARY ─ OVERALL
Boise State University is an emerging research institution in the Mountain West. In the past 5 years, annual
research awards have increased 58% to more than $65 million. The objective for the proposed COBRE in
Convergent Engineering and Biomolecular Science (CEBS) is to enhance Boise State’s ability to contribute to
solving the nation’s healthcare needs by increasing convergence between engineering and biomolecular
science research. Advancements in healthcare will continue to rely on more evolved and complex devices,
sensors, and integrated systems. The global medical devices market is expected to grow to $603.5 billion by
2023. For this advancement, engineers and biomolecular scientists must collaborate closely and create new
transdisciplinary research areas. Researchers trained in outside disciplines often bring fresh perspectives, new
approaches, and new technologies to the discipline. The overall program aims are to (1) support investigators
in multidisciplinary collaborative research in devices, sensors, and systems; (2) establish an administrative
core to support convergent research; and (3) form a consolidated Fabrication, Characterization, and Testing
(FaCT) core. This COBRE will strengthen the professional development of junior investigators and CEBS
related researchers through training workshops in grant writing and scientific publication. Importantly,
convergent training workshops in the Science of Team Science will be utilized to improve communication
across disciplines to build stronger research teams. Four existing service centers in the College of Engineering
will be consolidated into the FaCT core to reduce redundancy, improve fiscal sustainability, and promote a
biomedical engineering focus. The FaCT core is innovative because it is an engineering-based research core
that is complementary to traditional biomedical research cores. The COBRE will support Pilot Projects and
FaCT core vouchers to stimulate CEBS related research and use of the FaCT core. In summary, the CEBS
COBRE provides a framework to sponsor strong convergent research among engineers and biomolecular
scientists through training workshops, mentoring, networking, and access to a novel engineering core facility.