ACOE_Self-Study

students to basic, translational, and clinical optometric and vision science research by participating full-time for ten weeks in a research project mentored by one of the fifteen members of our distinguished research faculty. Research programs of the training faculty include cell biology, ocular pharmacology, visual psychophysics, computational modeling, visual neuroscience, optics, and clinical vision science. In addition to research, trainees will attend research colloquia, graduate seminars, journal clubs, and a course in Scientific Ethics and the Responsible Conduct of Research. It is expected that this experience will provide trainees with both technical and problem-solving skills that will inspire them to include vision research as one important component of their future career as optometrists. In the most favorable scenario, highly motivated trainees will choose to continue their research by entering the combined OD-MS or OD-PhD graduate programs in Vision Science and thereby obtain both a clinical and a research degree. Historically, nearly 80% of the students in the T35 training program have decided to continue their research projects by entering the OD/MS combined degree program. There have been 40 students in the T-35 program over the past 5 years. They have carried out research within a wide range of optometric and vision science areas including myopia, glaucoma, traumatic brain injury, accommodative problems, visual neuroscience, color vision, eye movements, and diabetic retinopathy. Examples of presentations based on T-35 projects can be found in Appendix III-6 . In addition to the programs listed above, the College offers laboratory assistantships to all optometry students for non-degree research projects in active research programs. Funding is provided from college work study funds and from research grants.

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