Project Objectives

	Biomathematics Project Objectives -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virtually any advance in the life sciences now requires sophisticated mathematical tools. Characterization of biological systems has reached an unparalleled level of detail. To organize this information and arrive at a better fundamental understanding of life processes, it is imperative that powerful conceptual tools from mathematics be applied to the frontier problems in biology. Modeling of biological systems is evolving into an important partner of experimental work. As a result there is a rapidly increasing demand for people with training in the field of biomathematics. The detailed objectives for the initiative are to: 1) Strengthen the quantification skills of biology students; 2) expose mathematics students to the usefulness and applicability of mathematical knowledge and thus highlight career opportunities in the life sciences; 3) introduce students to interdisciplinary research, teaching them to collaborate with scientists in different fields, and 4) improve the overall oral and writing skills of mathematics and biology students with specific emphasis on interdisciplinary content. This project combines the efforts of three undergraduate teaching faculty from Sweet Briar College with three research faculty from the Center of Biological Timing at the University of Virginia targeted on developing and implementing a strategy for acquiring skills for biomathematics as part of the undergraduate curriculum. We see this project as a vehicle that will offer our students the opportunity to explore fields that are highly employable and lucrative as well as to improve their chances of acceptance to competitive graduate programs in statistics and biomathematics.

Biomathematics
Project Objectives
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Virtually any advance in the life sciences now requires sophisticated mathematical tools. Characterization of biological systems has reached an unparalleled level of detail. To organize this information and arrive at a better fundamental understanding of life processes, it is imperative that powerful conceptual tools from mathematics be applied to the frontier problems in biology. Modeling of biological systems is evolving into an important partner of experimental work. As a result there is a rapidly increasing demand for people with training in the field of biomathematics.

The detailed objectives for the initiative are to: 1) Strengthen the quantification skills of biology students; 2) expose mathematics students to the usefulness and applicability of mathematical knowledge and thus highlight career opportunities in the life sciences; 3) introduce students to interdisciplinary research, teaching them to collaborate with scientists in different fields, and 4) improve the overall oral and writing skills of mathematics and biology students with specific emphasis on interdisciplinary content.

This project combines the efforts of three undergraduate teaching faculty from Sweet Briar College with three research faculty from the Center of Biological Timing at the University of Virginia targeted on developing and implementing a strategy for acquiring skills for biomathematics as part of the undergraduate curriculum. We see this project as a vehicle that will offer our students the opportunity to explore fields that are highly employable and lucrative as well as to improve their chances of acceptance to competitive graduate programs in statistics and biomathematics.