# Combined Engineering and Orthopaedics Training Program > **NIH NIH T32** · HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY · 2021 · $257,151 ## Abstract The goals of the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Combined Engineering and Orthopaedics Training Program are to identify, train, and empower a select group of high potential investigators to utilize the principles of engineering to advance patient care through interdisciplinary research while nurturing them to become successful academic and clinical leaders in the musculoskeletal and orthopaedic sciences. These goals will be achieved by: (i) carefully selecting exceptional and highly motivated pre-doctoral and post- doctoral trainees, (ii) providing them with unique training, mentoring, and research opportunities adapted to a sub-specialty academic hospital, and (ii) placing an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and focused mentoring to address clinically relevant research problems. Applications to fill two pre-doctoral positions will be invited from diverse graduate students in the School of Engineering at Cornell University. Trainee selection is based on outstanding performance in an existing mandatory summer ‘immersion’ term at HSS, a strong supporting letter by an HSS-based clinical collaborator, and a commitment to spend a minimum of one full semester at HSS. Applications for two post-doctoral positions will be invited from: (i) high caliber and diverse residents identified by HSS Clinical Service Chiefs and the Training Program Executive Steering Committee as rising-stars capable of pursuing clinician-scientist career pathways, and (ii) PhD post-doctoral fellows who have demonstrated exemplary potential through prior grant support, highly cited peer-reviewed publications, and strong cross-disciplinary collaborations. Additional key selection criteria for all positions are strong research plans that meet the mission of the Training Program, a desire to pursue an academic career, and a strong preceptor. A key strength to the training program is the central and unifying 40+ year relationship between HSS and the School of Engineering at Cornell University. This relationship has been recently reorganized into a revitalized cross-institutional center: CAMEO (Center for Advanced Materials and Engineering in Orthopaedics) from which Training Program preceptors are drawn. Preceptors include scientists and clinician- scientists with strong track records of conducting federally-funded research applying engineering principles aimed at improving patient care through basic and translational research. Trainees benefit from a strong mentoring program and a dedicated Mentorship Committee, extensive core services, expanded capabilities in epidemiology and biostatistics, institutional patient registries, and newly created Regenerative Medicine and Genomics Research Centers that traverse our research and clinical departments. A 10+ year collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), and especially the WCM Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), provides formal coursework, seminars and symposia. In summary, our rich resources will be leverag... ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10172014 - **Project number:** 1T32AR078751-01 - **Recipient organization:** HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY - **Principal Investigator:** Suzanne A. Maher - **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** NIH - **Fiscal year:** 2021 - **Award amount:** $257,151 - **Award type:** 1 - **Project period:** 2021-06-01 → 2026-05-31 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10172014 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10172014, Combined Engineering and Orthopaedics Training Program (1T32AR078751-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10172014. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*