Scientific Impact

By Daniel Michele Graduate Chair & Professor, Molecular & Integrative Physiology

SCIENTIFIC IMPACT. It is a term that all scientists know very well. All major funding agencies that award research grants have at least one major scoring criteria related to scientific impact. In fact, for the National Institutes of Health, after the entire review of a grant proposal is completed, the reviewer is asked to give a final score based on the “Overall Scientific Impact”. This one impact score, which in the end is what basically determines if the grant is funded, boils down the entire evaluation to “How will this proposed research impact our new knowledge of how biology/physiology works? and/or “How will this proposed research impact our understanding and treatment of significant human diseases?” If the “Overall Scientific Impact” is considered “Outstanding”, the grant proposal will very likely be funded, despite the current low success rates of major grant proposals.

scholarly scientific impact. But I am most impressed by our PhD students’ success over the last couple of years in writing and being awarded Individual Pre-doctoral Fellowships. These fellowships from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Science Foundation, and other groups are nationally competitive (extremely competitive) and provide funding for the student’s research stipend and benefits. The student’s proposals are typically judged on three main criteria: 1) the accomplishments of the student 2) the training environment and 3) the scientific impact of the research proposal. While the awarding of these fellowships recognizes our amazing students and the strong training environment within our mentor laboratories and the graduate program in Physiology, in the end, the most important factor in the score is the OVERALL SCIENTIFIC IMPACT of the proposed research. Our students are tackling fascinating scientific questions, uncovering mechanisms of human disease, and designing and testing new possible therapies that one day may make an impact on the treatment of patients, and these awarded fellowships prove it.

But SCIENTIFIC IMPACT does not begin and end in the research laboratory. Our students continue to amaze me with their after-hours and tireless efforts toward improving our scientific community and reaching out to young students for whom science is not visible or a part of their career aspirations. Many of our students serve as mentors for the University of Michigan Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and our department's summer fellowship program students who are seeking their very first research experiences. Several of our students also volunteer and serve in leadership positions in student organizations that seek to support current graduate students, including students from underrepresented backgrounds and students with disabilities. Our Science Engagement and Education for Kids program, founded and run entirely by students, continues to reach out to underserved elementary schools in Ypsilanti and Southeast Michigan to provide science education opportunities where no science curriculum currently exists. With their outstanding efforts, the future of science is bright as our students are not only becoming outstanding scientists, but are engaged and committed to making science accessible, more diverse, and more visible to the broader public and beyond.

As I look over the past year, the graduate students in the Molecuar & Integrative Physiology PhD graduate program are having outstanding SCIENTIFIC IMPACT. Our students have published several outstanding first author papers in major scientific journals. I could also tout the many successful dissertation defenses, where the dissertation committees award degrees based on the main criteria of significant

All of these accomplishments of our students give great “bragging rights” and news material for our graduate program director’s and our department’s Twitter accounts. If you want to keep up with our student’s accomplishments in real-time, I encourage you to follow us at @UMPhysiology. Find out more about the SCIENTIFIC IMPACT of our students and I am sure you will agree…it is “Outstanding!”