Short Course:
Implementing Biology
Across the Mathematics Curriculum
John R. Jungck
International Union of Biological Sciences
Society for Mathematical Biology
BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium
Beloit College
SMB/MAA MathFest
San Jose 2007
http://mc2.cchem.berkeley.edu
The BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium
is funded by HHMI, NSF, and EOT-PACI
Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
Division of Undergraduate Education, National Science Foundation,
and Education Outreach and Training Partnership for Advanced Computing Infrastructure
Previous major funding:
Annenberg Project/Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Foundation for Microbiology
Beloit College
University of Chicago
Center for Biology Education,
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Apple Computer
Pew Midstates Science & Mathematics Consortium
Collaborative Mathematical Modeling
Top-Down
ODE’s
PDE’s
(Symbolic Algebra Packages)
Engineering Control
Statistics
Nonlinear
Multivariate
Feedback
Resampling (bootstrapping, etc.)
Hysteresis
Bayesian
(Stella, Simul, Extend)
Bottom-Up
Cellular Automata
Individual-Based Modeling
Particle-Based Modeling
HHMI subcontract from Claudia Neuhauser,
HHMI Fellow & Chair, Ecology & Evolution,
College of Bioloogical Sciences, University of Minnesota
Mathematical biology
education and a
response to NRC’s
Bio 2010
recommendations
National Research Council
Bio 2010: Transforming Undergraduate
Education for Future Research Biologists
Recommendation #2:
Recommendation #1:
Those selecting the
new approaches should
consider the importance
of mathematics,
Concepts, examples, and techniques from
mathematics, … should be included in
biology courses. … Faculty in biology,
mathematics, and physical sciences must
work collaboratively to find ways of
integrating mathematics … into life
science courses …
ISBN 0-309-08535-7
(2003)
Meeting the Challenges:
Education Across the Biological, Mathematical, and
Computer Sciences
Sponsored by:

National Science Foundation

National Institute of General Medical
Sciences

American Association for the
Advancement of Science

Mathematical Association of America

American Society for Microbiology
pub.nigms.nih.gov/challenges/
www.maa.org/mtc/
Lynn Arthur Steen, editor
Math & Bio 2010: Linking Undergraduate Disciplines
Mathematics Association of America (2005).
Mathematics in Biology Curricula
WHY?
RESPECT
CONSISTENCY
EMPOWERMENT
Raina Robeva
Sweet Briar College
Probability
and
Statistics-based
Models
Anton Weisstein
Truman State University
Biological
ESTEEM:
Linear Algebra,
Population
Genetics, and
Microsoft Excel
Jennifer Galovich
College of St. Benedict &
St. John’s University
Bioinformatics
from an
Applied
Combinatorics
Perspective
Renee Fister
Murray State University
OPTIMAL CONTROL
THEORY
IN
BIOLOGY
Gretchen Koch
Goucher College
Teaching Mathematics to Biologists
and
Biology to Mathematicians:
Pharmacokinetic
Modeling
BioGrapher (Graph Theory in Biology)
Julius Jackson
Michigan State University
Number Theory
and
Genomics
Holly Gaff
Old Dominion University
Epidemiology
And
Modeling:
The Basics of
Infectious
Disease
Modeling
Two Challenges

(1)
Deluge of data

(2) Working together,
Working apart
Tsunami of Data
Tsunami of Data
Terrabytes
Per
Day
www.calacademy.org/.../ stories/horizons.html. Kathleen M. Wong. “Food Web Sandwich”
A more comprehensive yeast protein
interaction network
Deletion phenotype:
Red = lethal
Green = non-lethal
Orange = slow growth
Yellow = unknown

An example of a scalefree network
• Most nodes have few
connections
• A small number of nodes
(network hubs) are
connected to a large
number of other notes
Source: Jeong H et al
(2004) Nature 411:41-42
Working Together, Working Apart
Participation:
Not just PI’s
Post-docs
Graduate & Undergraduate students
Technicians
More democratic
= Creativity,
Innovation
Less isolation & NIH
Syndrome (Not Invented Here)
Mayo Clinic Model
BioinforBioinformatics
matics
Oncology
Surgery
Pathology
Epidemiology
Applied
Mathematics
Working Together, Working Apart




Synergisms
Specializations
provide expertise
Respecting
difference
Tolerance
Why 2020?
Microsoft Science 2020 report
What mathematical reasoning should
we expect biologists to develop?
The Challenges for 2020
STUDENTS
Multivariate
Multicausal
Multidimensional
Nonlinear
Multi-scale
Analyses of Complex Data
Where are we now?





General biology texts:
have less than 3
equations
Rarely have
quantitative data
Graph complexity
primarily linear
No quantitative
problems
Where do we need to go?




Biology education that
uses calculus, discrete
mathematics, & statistics
Quantitative problem
solving throughout
Modeling top down,
bottom up, nonlinear
feedback
Deal with complexity of
terabytes of data per day
How close is 2020?
Today’s kindergarden student will
be in college in 2020
In other words, the student of
tomorrow is already in school!
Will biology education be as
similar as 1994 was to 2007?
VIII. Conclusion
“ For Yesterday is but a Dream
And To-morrow only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow, a Vision of Hope.”
- Kalidasa
Indian poet and philosopher
Staying with Tradition and Seeing Change
An Anthropologist’s Advice
“… there are a good many more
ways of getting it wrong than
getting it right, and one of the
most common ways of getting it
wrong is through convincing
ourselves that we have gotten it
right …”
- Clifford Geertz