Summary Report on Course #1 - Introduction to the Mathematics of 
Biological Complexity - in the series of Short Courses on the Mathematics 
of Biological Complexity
Supported by National Institutes of Health Award GM59924-01
The University of Tennessee Conference Center June 11-14, 2000

June 21, 2000

Course Director: Louis J. Gross, University of Tennessee
Lecturers: Stephen P. Ellner, North Carolina State University
           Denise Kirschner, University of Michigan

This course included 23 lectures and 8 computer lab sessions devoted
to deterministic and stochastic mathematical approaches used in many
areas of the life sciences. Topics were covered rapidly with emphasis
on a conceptual framework for understanding applications with 
particular emphasis on population biology, genetics, immunology,
and epidemiology examples. The target audience were individuals with
little formal mathematics training beyond calculus. Topics covered
included: objectives of modeling, birth and death processes, branching 
processes, matrix models, ordinary and partial differential equation 
models, branching processes, and discrete dynamical system models. The
complete schedule as well as many of the lecture and lab materials are
available at http://www.tiem.utk.edu/courses/course1.html.

There were a total of 37 participants, including the three lecturers.
Participants educational backgrounds: 16 Ph.D.-level scientists 
(7 faculty members, 3 post-doctoral associates at universities, and 
6 staff members from various organizations including the Smithsonian, 
NIST, ORNL and USGS), 1 M.D., 13 graduate students and 4 undergraduate 
students. The faculty in attendance were from life science or chemistry
departments, and all the graduate students in attendance are pursuing
degrees in a variety of life science disciplines. The undergraduates,
all of whom are entering senior year, are completing degrees in biology 
or joint degrees in biology and math. 

The 8 computer labs associated with the course used the software packages
Maple, Matlab and Ecobeaker. The labs included stochastic process 
simulation, ordinary differential equation models for epidemics 
(emphasizing HIV), matrix population models, spatial simulations, and 
population viability analysis. 

All activities were held in the facilities of the UT Conference Center  
and all participants were provided meals together in order to foster 
interactions outside of the formal lectures and labs. An anonymous 
evaluation was conducted immediately following the conclusion of the 
course, with 26 respondents. The questions and a summary of responses
follows.

1. Was this worth attending - if you knew before attending what you know 
now about the course topics and coverage, would you have chosen to attend?       
        Yes  26     No  0

2. Did the topic coverage meet your expectations? 
        Yes  22     No   0     Partially  4

If you answered other than Yes, what topics did you expect to be covered 
that were not?

Relatedness and selection models
Chaos and complexity
Biocomplexity
Toxicology

3. What topics covered were of most interest to you?

Every topic was mentioned, with Markov chains, matrix models and 
differential equation models being mentioned more than other topics.

4. Were the computer labs generally worth the time or would you have 
preferred the time be spent on:
 
         Worth the time  24

         Would have preferred the time spent on:   
	1. Workshops sessions based upon problems brought by participants 1  
	2. More lectures or longer lectures
	3. Roundable discussion sessions     1
	4. Other (please state)

5. The meals were:    Excellent  20   Good  6   Fair  0    Poor  0

6. The hotel was:     Excellent   9   Good 11   Fair  2    Poor  0