Leadership: Jeff Knisley and Istvan Karsai (Program Director)
Support: $99,382. DUE-0337406
Supported period: 04.30.2004-04.30.2006
Abstract:
The biological sciences are becoming increasingly more dependent on concepts and techniques from mathematics, thus creating a need for students competent in both fields. However, students tend to gravitate toward either mathematics or biology to the exclusion of the other. We propose to extend an existing, highly successful curriculum model to counter this tendency. Through a multi-stage process designed to address biologists and mathematicians both collaboratively and independently, we will equip biologists with mathematical skills and mathematicians with biological skills as we prepare both for collaborative REU type research experiences that at the cutting edge of quantitative biology.
Intellectual Merit:
The interface between mathematics and biology is a rapidly expanding area of interest. This project prepares students for activity in the intersection of the two fields, and then it immerses them a research experience in the field itself. This will not only advance the fields of mathematical and quantitative biology, but it will also prepare those who will advance these fields in the future.
Broader Impact Multi-stage instruction addresses individual learning styles and the need for active learning. These issues are especially critical in learning subjects outside of ones area of expertise, such as a biologist learning mathematics or a mathematician learning biology. Adapting multi-stage instructional techniques to the preparation of future mathematical and quantitative biologists will meet these needs and address these issues. Once the curriculum materials and techniques in employing this multi-stage instruction will be collected and disseminated, the use of multi-stage instruction to address the special learning needs of those who desire to pursue research and employment at the interface of mathematics and biology.
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Leadership: Anant P. Godbole, Hugh A. Miller, Jack Rhoton, James Boland, Lev Yampolsky (Program Director)
Support: $998,342. DUE-0525447
Supported period: 09.15.2005-08.31.2009
ABSTRACT:
This proposal, Talent Expansion in Quantitative Biology is being submitted as a joint offering of the Departments of Mathematics and Biological Sciences at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in response to the STEP-Type 1 solicitation. The PIs are Anant Godbole (Math); Jay Boland (Math and Director of the Honors Programs); Lev Yampolsky and Hugh Miller (Biological Sciences); and Jack Rhoton (Curriculum and Instruction). Three high school teachers will be senior personnel, and the advisory board for the project will consist of the University Provost; the ETSU Vice President for Research; the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Director of Undergraduate Research; and the Assistant Dean of the Graduate School. We will seek to immerse three cohorts of entering freshmen (20 students each year) in a new four year research-intensive curriculum in quantitative biology. Some of the salient features of the project plan are as follows:
The INTELLECTUAL MERIT of the project is that it will seek to graduate 60 majors in a high-demand non-traditional concentration, namely quantitative and computational biological/biomedical science. It will gain its strength from a new curriculum that aggressively discards many traditionally required courses, while placing research squarely into the center stage of all activities.
The BROADER IMPACTS of this activity are that we will create a pipeline to the many careers and graduate programs in Computational Science, Informatics, Mathematical Biology, Neuroscience, etc. across the nation; that we will aggressively seek to create a new breed of interdisciplinary student from the ground up; and that we will bring this agenda to an underserved population of motivated students (with an unclear career plan) in an EPSCOR state.