Print PageThe goals of this NSF-funded research training program include enabling students from different academic disciplines to learn the concepts, language, and culture of another discipline, providing a substantive research experience at the intersection of ecology and mathematics, and encouraging members of underrepresented groups to pursue careers in biology and mathematics. Over two academic years, students take three special program courses, complete 4 semesters of a special seminar class, and take a summer research workshop. A team approach to teaching puts a biologist and a mathematician together in each class, so that instructors can meet biology and mathematics majors on their own terms and clarify critical terms and key concepts. Course activities are strongly project-oriented: topics are introduced that serve as course projects and provide open questions leading to research. Student research projects have also been enriched by seminars focused on mastering published research literature, which also provide guest visits by established researchers, and by workshops emphasizing research, analytical, computational, and presentation skills.
Results/Conclusions
Class visits by program faculty and students have been the most effective recruiting tool. Cohorts of 4 biology and 4 mathematics majors enrolled in fall of 2009, and in fall of 2010. Of the 16 students recruited, 9 are female and 3 Hispanic; 7 are first-generation college students and 6 transferred from community colleges. UTTER students have done research projects on mathematical models of innate immunity as a predator-prey system and on the role of resting stages in the dynamics of harmful algae. In the spring of 2010, most of the program students made presentations at the annual meeting of the Texas Section of the Mathematical Association of America. Many of the practices being developed will be carried into a new Mathematical Biology option for the undergraduate degree program in Mathematics, and can serve as a model for cross-fertilizing the disciplines of biology and mathematics. Assessments to date indicate that students are enthusiastic about team-taught, interdisciplinary coursework, opportunities to conduct research, and other enrichments of the academic experience. Of the 16 students who have participated, 8 currently express an intention attend to graduate school and conduct further research. Others intend to attend medical school or enter K-12 teaching.
