Education Workshop: Over the Fence: Mathematicians and Biologists Talk About Bridging the Curricular Divide (June 1-2, 2007)
Organizers: Linda Allen, Steve Deckelman, Jennifer Galovich, and Libby Marschall
This conference will bring together mathematics and biology educators who have developed successful biology-in-mathematics curricula with those who wish to develop such programs. The major goals of the conference are:
- Understand how to incorporate applications of and connections with biology into the undergraduate mathematics curriculum, and conversely.
- Understand how to accomplish this in different types of institutions, from small liberal arts colleges to large research universities. We will address opportunities for and benefits of, as well as barriers and impediments to, cross-disciplinary curriculum development in each of these types of institutions.
- Stimulate creation and revision of curricula that integrate mathematics and biology, the results of which will be published in MBI conference proceedings.
- Initiate and foster a continuing learning community
The conference will consist of plenary and invited talks by educators who have been successful in bridging mathematics and biology in the undergraduate curriculum. Conference participants will consist of collaborative pairs of mathematics and biology educators who have plans to pursue such a project at their own institutions.
Specific topics to be addressed:
- Who should teach these courses? Mathematical biologists or biological mathematicians?
- Developing mathematics projects for biology students and biology projects for mathematics students.
- Presentation of models of successfully instituted biology-in-mathematics and mathematics-in-biology programs.
- Issues related to professional collaboration: What opportunities are available? What kind of "cross-training" is needed and how can one do it? How can we overcome communication, modes of inquiry and pedagogical differences?
- The politics of curriculum change
- What are some strategies for incorporating biology applications into mathematics courses that have multiple audiences, e.g., calculus or introductory statistics?
- How do we respond to the issues raised in both the biology and mathematics communities by the appearance of the Bio 2010 report?
- From the biologists' perspective, what is the role and future impact of mathematics in the biology curriculum? And where in the curriculum?
- What software packages are available to support collaborative work?
How can undergraduate curriculum in mathematical biology meet the needs of industry?
Schedule |
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| Friday, June 1 | |||
| 8:45-9:00am | Welcome and introduction by Avner Friedman and Jennifer Galovich | ||
| 9:00-10:00am | Claudia Neuhauser: Beyond calculus: Integrating mathematics, statistics, and computation into biology courses | ||
| 10:00-10:15am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:15-11:45am | Panel: Describe and Discuss Existing Collaborations: Azmy Ackleh, Jacoby Carter, and Susan Mopper; Chris Leary and Gregg Hartvigsen; Raina Robeva and Robin Davies | ||
| 12:00-1:30pm | Lunch | ||
| 1:30-2:30pm | John Jungck: Towards Bio 2020: Educating Biologists to Collaborate with Mathematicians, and Computer Scientists | ||
| 2:30-3:00pm | Coffee break | ||
| 3:00-4:00pm | Ethel Stanley: Building Community Resources for Biological Problem Solving; and Tim Comar | ||
| 4:00-5:00pm | Plenary discussion | ||
| 5:00-7:00pm | Reception in the Math Tower, Room 724 | ||
| Saturday, June 2 | |||
| 8:30-9:30am | Tim Comar: Biocalculus Computer Laboratory Projects | ||
| 9:30-10:30am | Lou Gross: Entry-level math for biologists: Some lessons from 30 years of teaching | ||
| 10:30-10:45am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:45-12:15pm | Panel on Curriculum Development from a Variety of Perspectives: Joseph Mahaffy (course projects); Michael Martin (community colleges); George Vasmatzis and Eric Klee (biotech industry perspective) | ||
| 12:15-1:45pm | Lunch | ||
| 1:45-2:45pm | Fred Adler: Urban Ecology: The ultimate inter-disciplinary science? | ||
| 2:45-3:15pm | Coffee break | ||
| 3:15-4:15pm | Barry Robson: Teaching Life Sciences to Meet the Emerging Industry and Healthcare Needs. Can We "Studentize" the Union of of Set, Graph, Number, Probability, Information, and Quantum Theories Needed to Tackle the Data Explosion of the Post-Genomic Era? | ||
| 4:15-5:00pm | Plenary discussion | ||
| 6:00-8:00pm | Dinner at the Holiday Inn on the Lane | ||
