Large
science and technology centers provide a unique opportunity for
scientists to conduct research and outreach on sizeable,
long-term scales. One National Science foundation (NSF)-funded
center, the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) in Atlanta,
Georgia, is making great strides in improving how undergraduates
view science. It provides a unique resource that helps transfer
relevant discoveries from the laboratory to the public. CBN is an
award-winning, interdisciplinary research consortium composed of
more than 100 neuroscientists spanning seven institutions in the
metro Atlanta area. These are Emory University, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of
Medicine, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University, with
Georgia State University as the lead institution.
CBN
hosts a BioBusiness Seminar Series, a collaborative effort
between the center and the Georgia Biomedical Partnership. The
partnership is a private, nonprofit organization whose members
include 280 pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device
companies, universities, research institutes, government groups,
and other bioscience-related businesses and organizations.
The
Seminar series brings together undergraduate science and business
students to learn how their two disciplines merge in companies
that commercialize bioscience products. Senior executives of
pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies serve
as faculty for the series. The goal is to educate the
science and business students who will be the entrepreneurs and
senior bioscience company executives of the future. Teaching
undergraduates how science and business work together in
bioscience companies gives them an advantage over most students
whose introduction to this unique interaction occurs when they
first join a company. The Seminar makes students aware of job
opportunities and fosters development of applied technology and
business-oriented culture in the universities while training
potential management-level employees. It also educates new
generations of research scientists and students in innovative,
interdisciplinary ways of investigating brain mechanisms of
social behavior, and will transmit the excitement of behavioral
neuroscience to the general public.
Partners:
Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse
College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman College, Clark
Atlanta University, Georgia Biomedical Partnership
