Cross-Disciplinary Research Training in Mathematical Biology

研究者和他的同事们制定了一个跨学科的培训计划，为研究生提供数学和生物学方面的实质性培训。目标是培养在两个学科都有能力的学生，在应用数学和生物学的一些特定领域：生物流体、生态学和进化生物学、神经科学或生理学方面具有真正的专业知识。培训建立在特殊兴趣小组的基础上，该小组包括来自数学和生物学的教师，学生和博士后，以及基于行业的研究人员。现代生物学越来越注重数学和计算。这两个学科的教育和培训是为21世纪的劳动力、前沿研究和教学做好准备的必要条件。该试点项目包括创新的主题组织，灵活安排公共和特定地区的内容，跨学科团队，理论和实验培训相结合，以及行业合作伙伴的参与。这种结合有望通过培养一代科学家、数学家和工程师来促进长期的变化，这些科学家、数学家和工程师能够很好地分享语言和技能，以承担和解决关键问题。

The investigator and his colleagues develop aninterdisciplinary training program that would give graduatestudents substantive training in both mathematics and biology.The goal is to produce students competent in both disciplines,with genuine expertise in applied mathematics and some specificarea of biology: biofluids, ecology and evolutionary biology,neuroscience, or physiology. Training is built on the SpecialInterest Group, which includes faculty members from bothmathematics and biology, students and postdocs, andindustry-based researchers where appropriate. Modern biology is increasingly mathematical andcomputational. Education and training in components of bothdisciplines is needed to prepare people for the 21st centuryworkforce, for leading-edge research, and for teaching. Thispilot project includes innovative aspects in its thematicorganization, flexible arrangement of both common andarea-specific content, interdisciplinary teaming, combination oftheoretical and experimental training, and involvement ofindustrial partners. The combination is promising for fosteringlong-term changes by growing a generation of scientists,mathematicians, and engineers who share language and skills wellenough to take up and solve key problems.