# Short-Term Research Training For Optometry Students

> **NIH NIH T35** · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $39,753

## Abstract

T35 EY013937: Short-term Research Training for Optometry Students
Project summary/abstract
Fourteen vision scientists at Indiana University seek to provide short-term research training to
students in the School of Optometry. The long-term objective is to develop in these students an
abiding interest in research that will motivate them to pursue M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Vision
Science, and ultimately lead to careers in health-related vision research. Students are mentored
by vision scientists with active research programs. The research funding currently supporting
these laboratories includes NEI funding through ten R01s, an R41, an R44 and a P30 core
grant, plus funds from the Indiana State Department of Health and multiple other grants from
industry and foundations.
Support is requested for seven short-term trainees for three months of summer research.
Students with an undergraduate degree enter the program usually at the end of their first year in
optometry school. The potential areas of training include: Optics (including both anterior
segment optics and retinal imaging), Biology (including genetics of the anterior segment,
molecular biology of the RPE and corneal physiology), Disease (including ocular surface
defects, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and oculomotor disorders), and Vision
(including the impact of optical aberrations on visual performance, binocular vision and visual
development in infancy and early childhood).
Three different graduate level courses will expose trainees to a) Epidemiology, research design
and basic statistics as part of the optometry curriculum during the spring prior to entering the
short-term training program b) Ethical Issues in Scientific Research during the summer training,
and c) Critical Evaluation of the Research Literature during the summer training. The trainees
also organize an afternoon of research presentations made by the local vision science
community (approximately 40 presentations), which provides them with additional experience
with local research opportunities and the presentation of research findings to the community.
The trainees are encouraged to continue following their research interest after their summer
training, by (i) continuing their research in their mentor's lab and (ii) attending weekly seminars
by in-house faculty, graduate students and visiting scholars, and by (iii) attending scientific
meetings at which they present their research under the guidance of their mentors. Trainees are
also encouraged through a special degree program to include their data and analysis in a thesis
for an M.S. degree in Vision Science, which by additional efforts during the second through
fourth year of the OD program they can complete without additional costs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10144443
- **Project number:** 5T35EY013937-20
- **Recipient organization:** TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Donald T Miller
- **Activity code:** T35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $39,753
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2001-09-30 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10144443

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10144443, Short-Term Research Training For Optometry Students (5T35EY013937-20). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-10 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10144443. Licensed CC0.

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