Northern States Mathematical Biology Workshop: Stochastic Spatial Dynamics in Biology

This award will support a conference on October 14-15 2021 (https://math.usu.edu/spatialdynamics) that will provide an opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students, as well as early-career and experienced mathematical biologists and theoretical biologists, to learn innovative research techniques and perspectives on advanced topics that involve the modeling, analysis, and simulation of problems and questions emerging in modern studies of spatial dynamics in biological systems. The workshop will strengthen and enrich science personnel in a geographic region that has fewer workshop and conference opportunities.

Unlike other, more densely populated areas in the United States, students and junior researchers from the northern states (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah) have fewer opportunities to attend conferences and other academic events, often due to geographical limitations. The scientific focus of this workshop is the discovery of analogies between phenomena for which new techniques and methods for spatial stochastic modeling, analysis, and simulation have been elaborated, and the emerging ecological problems that are explicitly spatial and inherently random.

The exploration of similarities between the dynamical descriptions of biological spatial processes potentially creates new and interesting research opportunities emerging from specific insights and perspectives.

It is apparent that modern developments in movement Ecology heavily rely on new theoretical and innovative computational tools that allow a closer look at complex biological processes at different space and time scales. Although current advanced stochastic perspectives have brought progress in mathematical understandings of molecular, genetic, cellular and physiological mechanisms in biology, many of these techniques have not been yet applied at ecologically or environmentally relevant scales.

At the same time, there is a tremendous growth in spatially referenced ecological and environmental data available, driven by advances in remote sensing technology and the capacity to accurately resolve individual motion. There is therefore a novel opportunity for new research at the boundary between quantitative movement/landscape ecology and modern stochastic mathematical biology.

The theme of this workshop is to introduce a new generation of mathematical biologists to both new stochastic techniques and also to researchers involved with current questions and data in movement and landscape ecology.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.