Twenty-eight faculty of the Center for Visual Science (CVS) at the University of Rochester request renewal of support for a pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training program that emphasizes four broadly defined areas of vision research: (1) Advanced optical technology for vision correction and retinal imaging, (2), cell biology of the normal and diseased eye, (3) neural mechanisms of vision and (4) vision in behavior. Training faculty have extensive cross-campus and cross-department collaborations, a strong record of mentoring and high research funding levels. Training is interdisciplinary, drawing particularly on the unique technical and intellectual resources of CVS. It covers a broad range of basic and clinical problems in vision but emphasizes approaches that link visual performance to underlying biological mechanisms. The program has a strong record of trainee productivity, PhD student retention and fast average time to PhD. Similarly, postdoctoral trainees overwhelmingly pursue scientific careers, with significant numbers entering tenure-track positions in academia. Trainees have a good record of subsequent individual training and research funding, as well as successful research and research-related career paths. The program also has a good record of recruiting, training and career placement for trainees from under-represented minority groups. For our renewal application, we request support for 5 pre-doctoral trainees per year, who will generally enter the program through the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Science, Biomedical Engineering, the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Institute of Optics. Students will take core courses plus advanced seminars in visual science, augmented by courses from the departments through which they entered the program. Concurrently with course work, students complete research projects in CVS preceptor labs. Finally, we also request support for two postdoctoral fellows per year. Postdoctoral training has a heavy emphasis on research performance, productivity and communication. All trainees take part in topical workshops, special topics seminars, regular colloquia, research talk series, the CVS retreat, and the biannual CVS Symposium.

Visual deficits cause morbidity, decrease quality of life and have a significant societal burden. In addition, the visual system is a unique, easily-accessed portal with which to detect, diagnose and monitor many systemic diseases. The University of Rochester’s Center for Visual Science T32 provides interdisciplinary training in advanced optical technology for vision correction and retinal imaging, cell biology and neural mechanisms of both normal and diseased vision, and the role of vision in behavior for graduate students and post-docs of 28 faculty mentors.