UBM: Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences at ASU

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An interdisciplinary team of investigators carry out anundergraduate training initiative at Arizona State University. The training plan intimately combines new cross-disciplinarycourses and summer research programs. The former are constructedto allow maximal participation among undergraduate cadres, andfacilitate life science majors to achieve a minor in mathematics,and, likewise, mathematics majors to enrich their education witha minor in bioscience. The summer research program is acompetitive enterprise involving at least eight ASU facultymembers from life sciences, mathematics, and biophysics. Research projects span modeling of ecological and evolutionaryprocesses through the new lens of stoichiometric constraints,bio-economics, chemostat theory, and modeling of visualperception. This project has potential to make broad impact in bothlocal and global education environs. Regarding the former, theASU UBM team is truly interdisciplinary, with members inmathematics, biology and biophysics, exceptionally well suitedfor interdisciplinary training for undergraduates in biologicaland mathematical sciences. Its collaborative efforts can provideundergraduate and graduate students of diverse ethnic/racialbackgrounds with first-hand educational experience incross-disciplinary communication and exploration. As for globalimpact, the proposed holistic approach (involving mathematicalbiology courses at various levels and summer research projects)in mathematical biology training can vertically integrate all thecomponents in the ASU education system. It is therefore expectedthat this proposed program may yield many invaluable lessons toserve mathematical bioscience education and research nationwide,enriching the experience for the next generation of students inthis integrative and interdisciplinary scientific endeavor.