Claremont Center for the Mathematical Sciences

The idea for a Center for Quantitative Life Sciences emerged from discussions among the Biology and mathematics faculty at HMC. In 2000, Professor Michael Moody, then the Chair of the HMC Math Department, submitted a proposal to the Keck Foundation seeking funding to establish the Center. The Foundation awarded a 5-year grant of $500,000 to Harvey Mudd College to establish the Center for Qualitative Life Sciences (QLS) in 2001.  Michael Moody was the first Director of the Center, and Professors Lisette DePillis (Mathematics) and Stephen Adolph (Biology) became co-Directors in 2002. The Center was formally approved by the college in late 2002. The first Center visitors came in 2002, and the first sponsored research projects began in 2003.

The purpose of the grant was to inject a new interdisciplinary research and teaching perspective at the Claremont Colleges while also encouraging and preparing talented undergraduates to pursue careers in the quantitative life sciences.  In contrast to the permanency of existing departments, QLS will have flexibility that encourages responsiveness to changes over time. By offering advanced courses, developing collaborative research, and organizing QLS-related activities, the Center will provide a focus on interdisciplinary work in the qualitative life sciences.

The interdisciplinary areas between biology, and mathematics, computer science, the physical sciences and engineering comprise the qualitative life sciences. Quantitative methods provide important connections between biology, bio-engineering and bio-instrumentation. For example, computerized tomography was made possible because of sophisticated mathematical theories leading to methods for image reconstruction from the scanning data. Other imaging methods, such as MRI and PET have similar mathematical techniques that make imaging possible. There are many more examples that can be cited.

There are a great many research areas in the qualitative life sciences. Some of these research areas are: Genomics, Biophysics, Bioengineering and Instrumentation, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Demography among others. Other areas where mathematical models have led to insight about biology, among them the use of three-dimensional topology and differential geometry to understand the structural conformation of closed circular DNA.  Another example is the enormous accumulation of biological data in its various forms demands new and more efficient ways of storing and retrieving that information. Data compression algorithms is an important field in computer science, and relates directly to storage of molecular sequence information and medical imaging. Displaying biological information in creative and understandable ways is also of growing importance, and so there will be increasing collaboration between computer scientists and biologists in this area. Lastly, one of the greatest challenges facing biology today is the following one:  To understand the interaction of phenomena that happen on a wide range of scales in space and time and in organizational complexity.

There are three primary goals for the QLS Center: First, the Center will introduce new curriculum and educational experiences that address the intellectual development and professional goals of students interested in mathematics, computation and the life sciences. Second, the Center will provide opportunities for Harvey Mudd and Claremont College faculty to either  enhance or develop research programs in quantitative life sciences, and to improve their ability to keep pace with a very rapidly moving scientific field. Third, The Center will provide an opportunity for enhancing the general awareness at Harvey Mudd College and the Claremont Colleges of the life sciences, especially the mathematical and computational aspects of modern biology.

To achieve these goals, the Center will provide enhanced opportunities for important learning experiences. These opportunities will draw on the use of visitors to the Center, and the HMC faculty to deliver an enhanced curriculum and prospects for research. The Center will do this by

•     Introducing special topics lecture courses in quantitative biology
•     Introducing seminar courses for advanced students
•     Improving opportunities for students to participate in research projects in quantitative biology
•     Improving student awareness of employment opportunities in private industry

The QLS Center will also enhance research experiences for Claremont faculty by

•     bringing experts in quantitative life sciences to Harvey Mudd
•     establishing a “presence” for QLS at the Claremont Colleges
•    organizing public lectures, colloquium series and workshops to promote the quantitative life sciences

Having few permanent staff at the Center will allow the College to systematically re-shape the focus of the Center, over time, to connect to each segment of the HMC faculty and to track the rapidly changing nature of the life sciences. Thus the Center will allow for greater flexibility than does the traditional academic department.