Computational Biology at Howard University

Howard University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

HRD- 0401697 Computational Biology at Howard University Howard University PI: Louis W. Shapiro With National Science Foundation support, Howard University will develop concentrations in computational biology in the institution's current doctoral programs in biology and mathematics. The concentration will consist of six courses plus the dissertation. Interdisciplinary research teams with faculty and Ph.D. students in mathematics and biology will also be formed. The intellectual merit of the HBCU-RISE project lies in its interdisciplinary nature, and its ability to bridge the intellectual differences between the quantitative and the life sciences to prepare graduate students who are conversant in both disciplines and expert in at least one. These students will be at the leading edge of the emerging field of computational biology, and will also be trained to communicate their research in an interdisciplinary environment. Howard University's record of graduating African American Ph.D.s in life and quantitative sciences is unparalleled. This HBCU-RISE supported project will take Howard's tradition of doctoral education for underrepresented minorities to a new level of endeavor, both diversifying the scientific and academic workforce and ensuring that computational biology, as a relatively new intellectual field, is diverse from its outset.