Simulation in Medicine Grants

Advanced Simulation and Training Fellowships

Administered by the Institute for Simulation & Training
at the University of Central Florida

The Link Foundation awards up to five fellowships to qualified doctoral students in academic institutions per year, with each grant totaling $25,000 to support students while they complete their dissertation research. This program, in place since 1990, has awarded fellowships—approximately $1.3 million worth—to qualifying doctoral students studying in the simulation and training field at U.S. and Canadian universities. No limitations have been placed on citizenship.

Edwin Link's most famous invention was a ground-based simulator used for training aircraft pilots. This Fellowship continues to support research in the field of flight training, but its scope has been expanded to a variety of non-aviation applications, some of which are listed below. The research proposed in these applications must still embody the objective and characteristics found in the original flight training simulator; i.e., the training and preparation of individuals to perform in complex, interactive, real-time environments. Thus the emphasis must continue to be on training rather than education, and on simulation for training purposes rather than for design-development or product-research purposes.

Applications that require the training of operators, and could benefit from new and/or improved simulation techniques, include:

A variety of vehicle types: airborne (piloted and/or UAVs); spacecraft; ground-based; and marine.

Medicine/Healthcare procedures: various forms of surgery; other less invasive procedures; operation of complex medical tools and equipment; training of handicapped patients to operate support equipment; and patient/doctor interactions.

Military personnel (other than vehicle crews): Command and Control staff; soldiers in potentially hostile environments; logistics operations.

Security and Emergency operations: coordination of first responders; triage techniques; and recognition of threat situations.

Objectives
To foster advanced level study in simulation and training research; to enhance and expand the theoretical and practical knowledge of how to train the operators and users of complex systems and how to simulate the real-world environments in which they function; and to disseminate the results of that research through lectures, seminars, and publications.
The Awards: Doctoral Student Awards
On the basis of an application in the form of a research proposal, the Link Foundation awards up to five fellowships to qualified doctoral students in academic institutions. A grant totaling $25,000 will be awarded. This award includes a stipend of $21,500; $2,500 is available for expenses associated with the research; the remaining $1,000 is to help defray publication costs of the student's research results and/or to support the fellow's attendance at technical meetings.
The Link Foundation does not pay tuition and encourages institutions to waive tuition for fellowship recipients. Other charges not allowed include: summer salary or other compensation for the research director, pooled or overhead costs, and salary for support staff (e.g., secretarial or clerical help). The Fellow is to be enrolled full time with no teaching obligations and no research obligations to sponsors other than the Link Foundation for the duration of the award.

If a student does not expend the full amount of an awarded Fellowship, either because the student completes work toward their degree in less time than the full duration of the Fellowship or because the student withdraws from their degree program, unexpended funds will be returned to the fellowship program manager's institution in an amount pro-rated based on the fraction of the fellowship tenure during which the student was actively working on Link-supported research.

The Fellowship program is administered by the Institute for Simulation and Training.

Basis for Awards
The applicant should be working full-time towards a degree in an established doctoral program at a U.S. or Canadian institution. The applicant should have advanced to candidacy and the proposed research should be part of the Ph.D. dissertation requirement.
The applicant must submit a proposal that includes

A completed Application Form

A 500-word essay that places the research in the context of current activities in the field.

Project objectives, timeline and projected budget for use of the fellowship in accordance with Link Foundation guidelines (see "Objectives" and "The Awards..." sections, above).

Two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from the dean and the other from the applicant’s Ph.D. advisor. The dean’s letter must include verification that there are adequate facilities for the applicant's research. One of the letters must include verification that the applicant is a full-time Ph.D. student, has advanced to candidacy, and that the proposed research will lead to completion of the applicant’s dissertation.

Two additional letters of reference (professional or educational).

A current resume.

Preference will be shown to proposals dealing directly with simulation and training and which explore ideas not yet fully tested.

While in the past most fellowships have come from Engineering and Computer Science Departments, we are encouraging applicants from other disciplines to apply with innovative simulation modeling and training ideas. 

Link Foundation Fellowship Forms Request
Marybeth Thompson
Institute for Simulation and Training
University of Central Florida
3100 Technology Parkway
Orlando, Florida 32826-0544
FAX: (407) 658-5059

E-Mail thompson@ist.ucf.edu

Timetable

Fellowship Applications Due: January 16
Fellowship Applicants Notified: March 16
Financial Award sent to home institution: July 1
Period of use of the grant: July 1 to June 30 the following year
Report to the Link Foundation: September following completion of the grant