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Description of the New UTTER Program Courses
Each of the three new UTTER program courses will have an instructor of record which rotates among involved UTTER faculty, with supporting faculty in attendance who share lecturing duties. These will be small classes specifically designed to accommodate the level of prior knowledge that UTTER participants are expected to have (one semester of Calculus and a one-semester introduction to ecological biology). These courses, in which each lesson will integrate mathematical techniques and biological systems, are also designed to get mathematics and biology students to work collaboratively, in preparation for their later joint research. Several of the faculty participants have extensive experience in presenting mathematics to biologists and biology to mathematicians, as well as in mentoring interdisciplinary student collaboration. We fully anticipate that these courses will require a level of faculty-student interaction beyond that typical in university science and math classes. We plan for ongoing assessments of the learning process in these courses to ensure that students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for the UTTER program.
BIOL/MATH 2350. Mathematical Modeling in Ecology
An introductory course in modeling techniques in biology with emphasis on construction and interpretation of models in ecology and epidemiology. Computational tools will allow students to work with mathematical models chosen from areas such as optimization, statistics, and difference and differential equations. The goals of this course will include teaching programming skills and illustrating how biological knowledge is used to construct simulation rules in this computational approach.
Prerequisites: C or better in BIOL 1441 and MATH 1426.
BIOL/MATH 3350. Dynamical Systems in Biology
An introductory course in the existence and properties of solutions of differential and difference equations, qualitative analysis methods, and numerical solution of differential equations using finite-difference methods. Laboratory work will include use of Matlab in solving biologically motivated mathematical problems.
Prerequisite: C or better in BIOL/MATH 2350 or permission of instructor.
BIOL/MATH 3351. Probability and Random Processes in Biology
Introduction to random processes arising in biological modeling. Topics include introduction to probability, Poisson processes, birth-death processes, Markov chains, and Markov processes.
Prerequisite: C or better in BIOL/MATH 3350 or permission of instructor.
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