IGERT: Cross-Disciplinary Research Training in Mathematical Biology

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This IGERT project will develop a graduate program of cross-disciplinary research and training in Mathematical Biology. The goal of the program is to give students a solid training in core mathematics and genuine expertise in an area of contemporary biology. Such training will bring to bear the power of mathematics on the exciting and challenging problems of modern biology. Students will be recruited from a broad spectrum of mathematical, scientific and cultural backgrounds. It is expected that the graduates of this program will receive Ph.D.'s in mathematics, but by virtue of their broad-based training will be able to contribute to collaborative research efforts in numerous academic and industrial settings. In the process, the program seeks to build many new bridges between mathematics and biology potentially reshaping research for a new generation of mathematical biologists. The research and training program will be organized around the four research themes of biofluids, ecology and evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and physiology. A unique feature of this research and training program will be the establishment of Special Interest Groups (SIG's). Each SIG will be led by one or more faculty members with activities that include discussion of research problems, discussion of recent seminars, formal and informal talks about recent papers, student presented talks on background literature, etc. The training of students will also include formal coursework in both Mathematics and Biology, laboratory rotations or field work in an area of the life sciences, mentoring by both mathematics and life science faculty, and journal clubs, laboratory group meetings, and workshops. In these ways, the training of students will put great emphasis on collaboration and interaction across traditional academic disciplines. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fifth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.