The NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology is pleased to announce new programming that will lay the foundation for collaborations at the intersection of mathematics and biology across the nation and the globe.
Prize for Undergraduate Research in Quantitative Biology
Application Deadline: in March 2023 (Date TBD)
The NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology’s Prize for Undergraduate Research in Quantitative Biology recognizes outstanding undergraduate research in quantitative biology. Up to five finalists will be invited to present posters describing their research at the NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology Annual Conference, to be held in the Fall, 2023 at Northwestern University. Awardees will be chosen based on the content and presentation of their research projects. Prize: 1st: $1000; 2nd: $750; 3rd: $500 Click here for application instructions.
NSF Quantitative Biology REU Site (QBREU)
Application Deadline: January 23, 2023
High-throughput technologies have transformed biological research into a data-intensive science and provided exciting opportunities to investigate living processes in unprecedented detail. Yet making sense of these data has proven challenging due to the sheer volume and variety of the measurements, as well as the underlying complexity of biological systems. Developing models that are mechanistically insightful—not just accurate—requires a new generation of researchers working at the interface between mathematical disciplines (including mathematics, physics, and computer science) and the life sciences. The QBREU, the Quantitative Biology REU site at Northwestern University trains the next generation of researchers to develop and apply mathematical and computational models to address basic and applied biological problems ranging from molecular to population biology. QBREU leverages Northwestern’s considerable strengths in interdisciplinary research (including the community created by the Center for Quantitative Biology at Northwestern University (CQuB), one of four NSF-Simons Research Centers for Mathematics of Complex Biological Systems, to provide students a rich and authentic research experience. It builds upon our previous successes offering summer undergraduate research projects within CQuB, and will extend its reach to a larger and more diverse audience.
Great Math Challenges in Biology Contest
Application Deadline: to be determined for 2023
Historically, biology has inspired new mathematics, from Maxwell to Turing. In turn, breakthroughs in mathematics have generated new insights in biology. The sheer complexity of living beings lends itself to exploration of fields such as topology, complex geometry, dynamical systems, and probability theory. The NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology invites undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from across Chicagoland to participate in the Great Math Challenges in Biology contest. This challenge asks contestants to take some real-world problem in biology, gleaned from the Annual Center Conference on Quantitative Biology, and propose a specific advance in pure mathematics, new or old, that could be used to help solve the problem. Prize: 1st $2,000; 2nd $750; 3rd $250. Click here for application instructions.
Pilot Projects Program
The Center will award seed funding to two pilot projects that are closely aligned with the central research mission of the Center. The CQuB, one of four national centers funded by the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation, is focused on “transforming our understanding of organismal growth and development through quantitative approaches”. Pilot projects should be high-risk high-reward research, interdisciplinary in nature, and be working at the interface of biology and mathematics. Selected projects will be funded for one year for up to $40,000 direct costs each.
