Louis J. Gross was named the new NIMBioS director, effective July 1, 2017. A distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Gross is the founding director of NIMBioS and directs the Institute for Environmental Modeling at UT. His research focuses on computational and mathematical ecology, with applications to plant ecology, conservation biology, natural resource management, and landscape ecology. Read more.
Featured Science Modeling a Plant Virus
Plant diseases pose a serious threat to global food security, especially in developing countries, where millions of people depend on consuming what they harvest. In sub-Saharan Africa, one plant disease in particular – maize lethal necrosis – is ravaging one of the region's preferred crops for food, feed and income. But understanding its biology in order to manage the disease is difficult because the disease arises from two viruses interacting – which is where mathematics comes into play. Read more.
Postdoctoral Spotlight Models of Animal Behavior
NIMBioS Postdoctoral Fellow Oyita Udiani is using colony founding behavior in paper wasps to develop a framework for the study of learning in games with stochastic payoffs. In this video, he explains how developing models to understand how animals approach complex decisions may generate novel insights that could be useful for human applications.
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Support Available at NIMBioS
September 1 is the deadline for submitting requests for support for Working Groups and Investigative Workshops at NIMBioS, to be scheduled through summer 2019. All areas of research at the interface of biology and mathematics will be considered. For information about how to propose a new Working Group or Investigative Workshop, click here.
New Investigative Workshop Stoichiometric Ecotoxicology
Our 9th annual class of Summer Research Experiences students wrapped up their projects last month, but you can read about some of the students and their research in our ever popular Q&As. This year's projects covered a variety of topics, from mating patterns in birds’ evolution to modeling the spread of La Crosse virus in East Tennessee to modeling the immune system in host-virus conflicts, and more.
Educational Offerings Undergraduate Research Conference in Math Biology
The 9th annual conference provides opportunities for undergraduates to present their research at the interface of mathematics and biology. A limited amount of funding support is available for student travel and lodging. Dates:November 11-12
Funding deadline:September 22 Registration deadline: October 13
In Other News...
Synthesis Centers Provide the 'Special Sauce' (link)
Gross Named Fellow of Society for Mathematical Biology (link)
NIMBioS is sponsored by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
