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

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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.