Pre-Doctoral Summer Training Program in Auditory Research

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is an initiative of the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR) to provide a stimulating summer research experience for four predoctoral graduate students recruited nationally from all accredited Au.D. programs. NCRAR investigators use multidisciplinary approaches to decrease hearing disability. Research programs address diagnosis and assessment, rehabilitation and prevention in areas of audiology, psychology, neuroscience, neurology, otolaryngology, and engineering. The breadth of experimental approaches, coupled with the common focus on clinically-relevant significant problems of hearing-impaired patients provides us an opportunity to offer research training that may be unique within the nation's universities and research organizations. The NCRAR is made up of 11 investigators with proven research and training records as well as a strong history of internal research collaborations, all located within a well-equipped center at the Portland Veteran's Administration Medical Center, Portland, Oregon. The goal of this training program is to enhance and expand the clinical audiology training offered in university Au.D. programs by providing a mechanism for the short term immersion of Au.D. students into clinical research. It is hoped that some of the summer trainees will be attracted to a change in direction into a research career, while others will at least develop an appreciation for the research process. The research activities available to the summer trainees will be varied. Students will be assigned a faculty mentor, selected according to the student's interests and the mentor's availability and will work within the context of the research area of the primary mentor. Inter-laboratory interactions will be encouraged. There will be weekly seminars provided by the faculty, including presentations by scientists from other institutions in the Portland area, involving research ethics and the process of carrying out a research project, from design to publication. Trainees will be expected to end their training program by developing an oral presentation describing their research during the summer. It is anticipated that an additional benefit of this program will be the opportunity for students from different universities to learn from each other and start to form nationwide collegial relationships that will last throughout their careers. Relevance: There is a wide array of training models in place within graduate programs offering the professional doctorate in audiology, with only a few offering extensive research training. This, coupled with a reduction in the number of Ph.D. graduates in audiology, results in an ever-decreasing pool of academic audiologists who have the training, desire, and expertise to staff university faculties and continue the research tradition in clinical audiology.