Cross-Disciplinary Research Training in Mathematical Biology

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

The investigator and his colleagues develop an interdisciplinary training program that would give graduate students substantive training in both mathematics and biology. The goal is to produce students competent in both disciplines, with genuine expertise in applied mathematics and some specific area of biology: biofluids, ecology and evolutionary biology, neuroscience, or physiology. Training is built on the Special Interest Group, which includes faculty members from both mathematics and biology, students and postdocs, and industry-based researchers where appropriate. Modern biology is increasingly mathematical and computational. Education and training in components of both disciplines is needed to prepare people for the 21st century workforce, for leading-edge research, and for teaching. This pilot project includes innovative aspects in its thematic organization, flexible arrangement of both common and area-specific content, interdisciplinary teaming, combination of theoretical and experimental training, and involvement of industrial partners. The combination is promising for fostering long-term changes by growing a generation of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who share language and skills well enough to take up and solve key problems.