UBM-Institutional: Interdisciplinary Training and Research for Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical/Statistical Sciences at UMBC

来自马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校(UMBC)生物科学系和数学与统计系的研究人员将创建一个生物数学和统计学的跨学科项目。该项目的一个关键要素是每个系的本科生在每个系的一对教员的监督下分组工作，将现代数学和统计方法应用于重要的生物学问题。这项拟议的研究将使用模型生物和非模型生物来研究生物学中广泛学科的问题，包括生理学、细胞生物学、遗传学和进化论。拟议的研究将需要开发和应用现代数学和统计方法，以解决每个研究领域中的问题，并随后在实验中测试这些模型。此外，首席调查员建议通过修订现有课程以改进现有课程中的跨学科教育，并开发生物数学和生物统计学的新课程，从而加强这些系所有本科生的数学、统计和生物之间的联系。首席调查员还将主办教师发展研讨会，旨在允许现有教师将更多的量化应用纳入生物专业的核心课程，并为数学和统计系的教师提供引人注目的生物学问题，以挑战学生的核心课程。该计划将为40名本科生提供高质量的跨学科研究培训，为学生和教师创造一个协同的研究环境。此外，拟议的课程开发，结合教师发展和设立一个新的辅修数量生物学，将为所有主修生物、数学和统计的本科生提供跨学科教育。因此，从这些课程毕业的学生将非常适合进行现代生物学研究，这些研究越来越需要更复杂的定量方法来增强我们对生物系统的理解。

Researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) will create an interdisciplinary program in biological mathematics and statistics. A key element of this program will be undergraduate students from each department working in teams under the supervision of a pair of faculty from each department to apply modern mathematical and statistical approaches to significant biological problems. The proposed research will use model and non-model organisms to investigate questions from a wide range of disciplines in biology, including physiology, cell biology, genetics, and evolution. The proposed research will require development and application of modern mathematical and statistical approaches to address questions in each research area and subsequent testing of these models in experiments. In addition, the principal investigators propose to fortify the connections between Mathematics, Statistics and Biology for all undergraduate students in these departments by revising the current curriculum to improve interdisciplinary education in existing courses and developing new courses in biomathematics and biostatistics. The principal investigators will also host faculty development workshops designed to allow current faculty to integrate more quantitative applications into core courses in the Biology major and to provide faculty in the Mathematics and Statistics Department with compelling biological problems to challenge students in their core courses. The proposed program will provide high quality interdisciplinary research training to 40 undergraduate researchers, creating a synergistic research environment for students and faculty. In addition, the proposed curriculum development, combined with faculty development and establishment of a new minor in Quantitative Biology will provide cross-disciplinary education for all undergraduates majoring in Biology, Mathematics and Statistics. Thus, students graduating from these programs will be well suited to carry out modern biological research that increasingly requires greater sophistication of quantitative approaches to enhance our understanding of biological systems.