Gloria Kim, a first-year graduate student in the lab, was awarded a
Computation and Mathematics for Biological Networks (COMBINE) fellowship. COMBINE is the University of Maryland’s National Science Foundation-funded Research Traineeship (NRT) program in Network Biology. COMBINE immerses doctoral students in interdisciplinary research and training that integrates quantitative modeling methods from physics and mathematics with data processing, analysis, and visualization tools from computer science to gain deeper insights into the structural and dynamical principles governing living systems. Participants learn to utilize a network-based, data-driven approach, focusing on how interaction patterns can give insights into complex biological phenomena. COMBINE prepares students to become experts in the process of transforming raw biological data into useful information from which new biological insights can be inferred, positioning them to pursue a range of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers at the nexus of the computer, physical, and life sciences. Fellows receive training in 4 areas of network analysis: (a) quantitative metrics for biological networks, (b) mechanistic models of biological networks, (c) network statistics and machine learning for biological applications, and (d) and visualization techniques for large, complex biological data sets. Dr. Rasmus Birn (Departments of Psychiatry & Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison) will serve as the out-of-field mentor for Gloria’s fellowship. Learn more about COMBINE.