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

一个跨学科的研究团队在亚利桑那州立大学开展了一项本科生培训计划。培训计划将新的跨学科课程和暑期研究项目紧密结合在一起。前者旨在让本科生干部最大限度地参与，并促进生命科学专业的学生辅修数学，同样，数学专业的学生也可以辅修生物科学来丰富他们的教育。暑期研究项目是一个竞争性项目，至少有8名来自生命科学、数学和生物物理学的亚利桑那州立大学教职员工参与。研究项目通过化学计量约束、生物经济学、恒化器理论和视觉感知建模的新视角，对生态和进化过程进行建模。该项目有可能在当地和全球教育环境中产生广泛影响。对于前者，亚利桑那州立大学的UBM团队是真正的跨学科，拥有数学、生物学和生物物理学的成员，特别适合为生物和数学科学的本科生进行跨学科培训。它的合作努力可以为不同民族/种族背景的本科生和研究生提供在跨学科交流和探索方面的第一手教育经验。在全球影响方面，亚利桑那州立大学数学生物学培训中建议的整体方法(包括不同级别的数学生物课程和暑期研究项目)可以垂直整合亚利桑那州立大学教育系统的所有组成部分。因此，预计这项拟议的计划将为全国范围内的数学生物科学教育和研究提供许多宝贵的经验，为下一代学生在这一综合性和跨学科的科学努力中丰富经验。

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.