CAREER: Role of Protein Aggregation in Disease/Teacher Enhancement in Engineering

This career program has two goals: (1) to further the development of the study of biomedical engineering within the chemical engineering discipline; and (2) to form a partnership with secondary schools in the region to both enhance the science skills of the teachers within those schools and to increase the awareness by teachers of career possibilities in engineering. To meet the first goal, one research project is to investigate the role of protein aggregation in the mechanism of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. An undergraduate and graduate course under development is to use material obtained from this project as well as other ongoing research projects. To meet the second goal, a four year project is to bring 24 secondary school science teachers to Texas A&M for an annual five week teacher enhancement program. Teachers are to visit several manufacturing facilities and remediation sites within Texas where engineering is practiced and attended seminars on engineering career opportunities and engineering research programs.