Talent Expansion in Quantitative Biology

东田纳西州立大学（East Tennessee State University）数学系和生物科学系正在合作，让三组新生（每年20名）学习为期四年的定量生物学研究密集型新课程。从那些宣称自己“尚未决定”的学生中招收学生作为专业进入任何一个系，在每种情况下，都进入定量生物学的轨道。该计划的特点包括：一个跨学科的桥梁计划（学生在高中四年级和大学一年级之间），包括早期研究机会的介绍；在大一、大二和大三期间参加适当的研究项目，在大三结束时参加本科生外部研究经历或实习；在整个本科阶段进行指导，并让高年级本科生参与到指导过程中来。该项目正在培养一批擅长数学、生物和计算科学融合的骨干学生。该项目的智力优势在于，它旨在培养60个要求很高的非传统专业的毕业生，即定量和计算生物/医学科学。它从新课程中获得优势，该课程积极地抛弃了许多传统的必修课，同时将研究直接置于所有活动的中心舞台。这项活动更广泛的影响是，它为全国范围内的计算科学、信息学、数学生物学、神经科学等领域的许多职业和研究生课程创造了一条管道；它还涉及到并有助于为服务不足的学生群体提供一条清晰的职业道路。

The Departments of Mathematics and Biological Sciences at East Tennessee State University are working in partnership to immerse three cohorts of entering freshmen (20 students each year) in a new four-year research-intensive curriculum in quantitative biology. Students are recruited as majors into either department from those who declare themselves as "undecided" and, in each case, enter a Quantitative Biology track. Features of the program include: an interdisciplinary bridge program (to be taken between the students' senior year in high school and freshman year in college) that includes an introduction to early research opportunities; participation in appropriate research projects during the freshman, sophomore and junior years and placement in external Research Experiences for Undergraduates or internships at the end of their third year; and mentoring throughout the undergraduate years with involvement of advanced undergraduates in the mentoring process. The project is creating a cadre of students who are adept at functioning at the confluence of the mathematical, biological and computing sciences. The INTELLECTUAL MERIT of the project is that it seeks to graduate sixty majors in a high-demand non-traditional concentration, namely quantitative and computational bio/medical science. It gains its strength from a new curriculum that aggressively discards many traditionally required courses, while placing research squarely into the center stage of all activities.The BROADER IMPACTS of this activity are that it creates a pipeline to the many careers and graduate programs in Computational Science, Informatics, Mathematical Biology, Neuroscience, etc. across the nation; and that it involves and helps promote a clear career path for an underserved population of students.