National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS)

该奖项设立了一个中心，以促进数学和生物科学相结合的研究和教育。该中心的目标是在推进数学科学的同时解决基本的和应用的生物学问题，并促进跨学科研究人员的发展。需要一种跨学科的视角，将生物学与物理和社会科学联系起来，以推动现代生物学在一系列具有挑战性的问题上取得进展，同时为数学的根本进步提供途径。该中心将建立一系列小型工作组，通过对整个社区的公开呼吁，专注于将受益于跨学科努力的主题，从而使该中心真正成为国家社区资源。这些努力有可能改变数学家和生物学家合作的方式，这种文化变化将刺激这两个学科及其相互作用的重大进步。在过去的一个世纪里，生物学已经从主要描述生物世界的模式转变为确定这些模式是如何产生的，什么过程影响它们，以及我们如何有效地修改和管理它们。该中心将与政府和行业合作伙伴合作，为控制入侵物种、限制传染病的影响以及建议药物设计的新方法等问题提供科学见解。因此，该中心将产生有助于制定国家政策的新知识。各级教育活动，从K-12学生到博士后学者，将阐明数学与生物学所有领域的联系，并将培养新一代数学生物学家。这些努力将以需要扩大生物和数学科学中代表性不足群体的参与为指导。该中心将通过与国家公园管理局的重要伙伴关系和研究合作，针对大烟山国家公园的游客开展强有力的公共宣传努力。

This award establishes a Center to foster research and education at the interface of the mathematical and biological sciences. The goals of the Center are to address fundamental and applied biological questions while advancing the mathematical sciences, and to foster the development of transdisciplinary researchers. An interdisciplinary perspective, linking biology to the physical and social sciences, is needed to advance modern biology along a broad array of challenging problems while providing avenues for fundamental advances in mathematics. The Center will develop a series of small working groups focused on topics that will benefit from interdisciplinary efforts through an open call to the entire community so as to make the center truly a national community resource. These efforts have the potential to transform the way that mathematicians and biologists collaborate, a cultural change that will spur significant progress in both disciplines and at their interface. Over the past century biology has changed from mostly describing the patterns of the living world to determining how these patterns arose, what processes affect them and how we might effectively modify and manage them. In collaboration with government and industry partners, the Center will provide scientific insights into problems such as the control of invasive species, limiting impacts of infectious diseases, and suggesting new methods for drug design. Thus the Center will produce new knowledge that will help to shape national policy. Educational initiatives at all levels, from K-12 students to post-doctoral scholars, will illustrate the connections of mathematics to all areas of biology and will train a new generation of mathematical biologists. These efforts will be guided by the need to broaden participation by groups under-represented in the biological and mathematical sciences. The Center will develop a strong public outreach effort through a significant partnership and research collaboration with the National Park Service targeting visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.