Student/Faculty Research Models in Computational Biology

organized by:
Suzy Renn, Albyn Jones, Jim Fix (Reed College),
Andre Cavalcanti, Jo Hardin (Pomona College), &
Brian Tjaden (Wellesley College)
June 18 - 20th, 2008

mellon participants

Workshop attendees:
top row: Brett Pellock, Brian Tjaden, Andre Cavalcanti, Albyn Jones, Ralph Morelli, David Matthes, Wi-Jen Chang.
front row: Bryan Head, Dan Bernstein, Jim Fix, Jo Hardin, Peter Dolan, Suzy Renn, Peter Otto.
not pictured: James Bernhard

It is our goal to increase undergraduate student engagement in computational biology at the research level. As a step towards that goal we conducted a three-day workshop to explore different models for student/faculty research collaborations in computational biology that are currently in place at liberal arts colleges. Twelve faculty members from,
math, computer science, and biology departments, representing eight liberal arts colleges, convened on the Reed College campus June 18th - 20th of 2008. Beyond the simple description of different academic models, included in our agenda was the aim to learn how different institutions might adopt a successful strategy without having to "reinvent the wheel." Discussions addressed the degree to which significant and minor changes would be required of the academic infrastructure.

Download a .pdf summary of our discusions and recommendations