Achievement

At the 2nd annual meeting of our IGERT program, trainees and affiliate met with our External Advisory Board (EAB) to discuss barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration. The EAB recommended that students develop a list of grand challenges that face the field, and to consider how interdisciplinary collaboration could help to solve these problems. Nine students (8 trainees/1 affiliate) had several meetings and a retreat to develop their ideas. They made a formal presentation to the EAB at our 3rd annual meeting. The EAB was impressed and suggested that students submit a formal editorial to the journal Indoor Air, arguably the top journal in the field. The students submitted an editorial entitled "Priorities in indoor environmental science and health, as students see them," which was accepted and published in the December 2009 issue of Indoor Air. Importantly, this was a student-driven effort without faculty contribution and has become a source of pride for our students and faculty.