IGERT: Biological Foundations of Language Diversity
The newest addition to Maryland's opportunities in the language sciences is an interdisciplinary program in Biological and Computational Foundations of Language Diversity, which is supported by the National Science Foundations prestigious Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program. The IGERT program is designed for highly motivated students who seek broad interdisciplinary training that is not normally available within an individual program.
Students may apply to join the IGERT program after admission to a regular PhD program at the University of Maryland [see Application and full program information]. In addition to completing the training in their home program, students participate in a number of additional activities as a part of the IGERT program:
- Additional foundational courses chosen from tracks in (i) language diversity, (ii) cognition and neuroscience, (iii) computational and neural modeling.
- Integrative seminars on problems that call for solutions involving a combination of theoretical, experimental, and computational tools.
- 'Advanced lab rotations': semester-length placements in a research group outside the home department, taken mid-way through the PhD to foster development of an interdisciplinary doctoral thesis.
- Partnerships with international research groups, local high schools, and nearby institutions such as Gallaudet University (a major center for research on signed languages)
The program offers very generous 2-year fellowships (available on a competitive basis), travel support for research and conference presentations, and some research support. The program is also contributing to a variety of enhancements to equipment resources for language scientists.