Summer Graduate School
| Parent Program: | -- |
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| Location: | HHMI / Janelia Research Campus |
Explore Outstanding Phenomena in Animal Behavior
Jointly hosted by Janelia and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), this program will bring together 15-20 advanced PhD students with complementary expertise who are interested in working at the interface of mathematics and biology. Emphasis will be placed on linking behavior to neural dynamics and exploring the coupling between these processes and the natural sensory environment of the organism. The aim is to educate a new type of global scientist that will work collaboratively in tackling complex problems in cellular, circuit and behavioral biology by combining experimental and computational techniques with rigorous mathematics and physics.
Intense Two-week Program of Hands-on Lectures and Computational Work
Participants will be introduced to different experimental paradigms and will watch demonstrations of live lab experiments. Our project-based learning approach will involve: (1) identifying open problems in biology, from the dynamics of individual neurons and neural circuits to the behavior of organisms at the level of individuals and groups; (2) formulating mathematically and experimentally tractable questions; (3) addressing these questions by integrating tools from diverse research areas, such as statistical mechanics, thermal/fluid/solid mechanics, dynamical systems, algebraic topology, machine learning, and information theory. Instructors and selected Janelia researchers will present case studies to guide student projects. Participants will work in small groups on independent but complementary projects. Groups will present the objective of their project and their preliminary data/findings at the end of the first week, with final presentations at the end of the course. We especially encourage applications from female scientists and those who identify with groups traditionally underrepresented in science.
Prerequisites:
Prerequisites (required): Advanced calculus, probability, and statistics, ODEs, dynamical systems, linear algebra (comfortable working with matrices and tensors)
Preferred (but not required): PDEs, programming experience (e.g. R/MATLAB/Python etc.), some exposure to physics at the level of a field theory (e.g. electromagnetism, relativity, hydrodynamics and elasticity, statistical mechanics).
Special restrictions:
- Nominated students will be required to submit their transcripts as well as a written statement explaining why they are interested in the school.
- Participation is subject to selection by the organizers
- Due to the small number of students supported by MSRI, only one student per institution will be funded by MSRI.