Eight undergraduate students, coming from seven different states, just finished up their 10-week research experience at Clarkson as part of the first cohort of the NSF-funded Mathematical Biology Team Science Research Experience for Undergrads (MBioTS REU) under the co-direction of Assistant Professors James Greene (Math) and Susan Bailey (Biology).
Students came into the program with diverse backgrounds ranging from Biology to Math and Engineering and were placed into interdisciplinary teams to work on research at the intersection of Mathematics and Biology. The collaborative research projects ranged from population dynamics to cell and cancer biology and were advised by faculty in both Math (Dr.s Emmanuel Asante-Asamani, Sumona Mondal, Diana White, and James Greene) and Biology (Dr.s Ginger Hunter, Shantanu Sur, and Susan Bailey). Alongside their research, the students participated in invaluable skills workshops on a range of topics, including statistics, coding in python, and how to give a research presentation; they also attended research seminars from invited speakers and enjoyed a number of organized social outings in the local area including hiking, kayaking, and strawberry picking.
The students all gave final research presentations at Clarkson’s student Research and Project Showcase (RAPS) on July 28th, with three receiving a “best presentation” award in their section.
Co-director Dr. Susan Bailey says of the program, “It has been such a pleasure to get to know these talented students, mentor them, and watch them grow as collaborative researchers this summer. I am so proud of their successes!”
This was the first year of the MBioTS REU program which is currently funded by NSF for two more years. A call for student applications for the 2023 MBioTS REU summer program will be announced in December.
