LINCR is a new undergraduate fellowship program sponsored by GT FIRE, the Fund for Innovative in Research and Education, to help unite disparate neuro groups on campus. LINCR aligns with the Neuroscience Club at Georgia Tech (GTNeuro) to bridge gaps in the research community on Georgia Tech’s campus relating to neuroscience and education. The program is structured to have undergraduates (or PIs) propose and structure neuro-related projects that integrate the research of two research groups in separate buildings on campus, groups that were not previous collaborating. In this way, students are the force that initiate the process of strengthening neuro-based collaborations between two labs that share similar interests and end goals. The LINCR Symposium is the conclusion of the program, with student  presentations and guest speakers.

This keynote speaker is Bill Todd, who has previously acted as President and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition. Todd has also been instrumental in connecting Georgia Tech and Emory through his work with the Georgia Research Alliance, which, founded in 1990, has since expanded to make Georgia into a high-value, venture-attracting community for technological innovation in science and medicine.

Ross Mason, prominent healthcare investor and social entrepreneur, will give the closing speech. Ross Mason created HINRI Labs (the Healthcare Institute for Neuro-Recovery and Innovation) in August 2007, after a bicycle accident left him paralyzed from the collarbones down. He is the Chairman of the Georgia Department of Community Health Board ($11.2 billion annual budget), and Chairman of the Georgia Free Clinic Network, which provided free medical care to 150,000 homeless, indigent, and uninsured Georgians in 2008, and saved the state almost $400 million. Ross also serves as a Fellow at the Center for Health Transformation and on the Advisory Board of the National Veterans Innovation Center.

Registration: http://gtneuro.net/?q=node/457