2004 Bioinformatics Interdisciplinary Research Scholars (BIRS) program

1. Objectives
The goal of the BIRS program is to develop strength in bioinformatics research at UNL. The interdisciplinary mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students will train students for a career in bioinformatics while enhancing UNL research outputs in bioinformatics, increase competitiveness for extramural funding in this critical area of research, and expand the role played by in bioinformatics in research at UNL.

2. Funding
The BIRS program will provide a stipend of $1,300 per month for graduate scholars and $400 per month for undergraduate scholars who receive an award. The award includes health insurance costs and tuition remission.

3. Duration
The period of the award is from January 15 until the end of the 2004 Spring Semester (May 7, 2004)

4. Applications
Applicants who wish to be considered for an award will submit an application that includes the following items:
1) Curriculum vitae, including GPA and GRE (for graduate scholars) records
2) A letter of recommendation from a former or current professor or supervisor. This is additional to the "letter of support from the BIRS mentor" described next.
3) Letter of support from the BIRS mentor (UNL faculty), stating what kind of environment (equipment, etc.) will be provided in their laboratory or Department to ensure the student's research success.
4) Research proposal up to 2 pages. The research proposal needs to be written by the student in collaboration with the mentor, and should state:

a) Research objectives
b) How the expertise of the student and the mentor are complementary
c) How will bioinformatics interdisciplinary(*) training of the student be accomplished. The mentor and student should know enough about each other’s expertise/capabilities.

(*)Various relevant cross-discipline combinations will be considered "interdisciplinary" as long as the student's and mentor's expertise are complementary. For example, we will define the"interdisciplinary" if a student with a life science background (Food Science and Technology, Biochemistry, Agronomy, etc.) who does not have much computational (or mathematical, or statistical) work experience, proposes to do research on biological problems by applying computational (or mathematical, or statistical) methods. The reciprocal situation is also considered as interdisciplinary.

5. Evaluation of Applications for BIRS Awards
The proposals will be ranked by a BIRS Committee of three faculty from the EPSCOR/Bioinformatics grant. Award of a BIRS is based on two sets of criteria:

a) Academic record and credentials
- Grades, letters of recommendation, honors, etc.
b) Scientific merit of the interdisciplinary research proposal
- Evidence of interdisciplinary research and training

6. Final Report
A final report will be due at the end of the duration of the project. The report must be written by the student, and must include a letter of approval and final evaluation written by the mentor.

7. Performance Standards
The student is responsible for the performance of the research activities outlined in the research proposal, with the guidance of the mentor. Failure to make satisfactory progress in the research progress will result in immediate cancellation of the award.