Workshop on Advances in Mathematical and Theoretical Biology

This award supports participation in the workshop "Advances in Mathematical and Theoretical Biology" held at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, March 17-19, 2023. The focus will be on modeling and analysis of mathematical models with different aspects of biological applications, such as infectious diseases, cancer and treatment, and population dynamics. The workshop will highlight significant recent developments in these areas and provide a forum for the participants to meet and communicate their recent work. The goals of the workshop are to: (1) to bring together leading researchers from different areas and backgrounds of mathematical and theoretical biology to communicate and exchange ideas; (2) study challenging health problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer modeling and treatment, emerging diseases, etc.; (3) expose younger researchers (undergraduate/graduate students and postdocs) to the latest developments in these areas; and (4) broaden and stimulate the education and research of young, female, and underrepresented researchers. Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary field that uses tools from analytical and numerical mathematics to address questions related to biology. The recent two decades have witnessed tremendous growth in this area, and emerging questions from biology have brought forward new and exciting mathematical questions. This workshop will bring together researchers from different mathematical areas at several academic career stages, facilitating the initiation of collaborative research among the attendees. The workshop will feature six plenary speakers from the USA, Canada, France, and Mexico and forty invited speakers ranging from senior level researchers to early-career researchers and students. A poster session will promote undergraduate and graduate research. By bringing together a new generation of researchers along with established experts, the workshop aims to cultivate new collaborations and networks that can help junior researchers as they advance their careers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.