 |
|
|
|
The Department offers a major, minor and electives for undergraduates in mathematics and in computer science, and a concentration in bioinformatics. |
|
 |
Bioinformatics
With the completion of the human genome project and ongoing research initiatives in the life sciences, scientists have access to more biological information than ever before. How to turn that flood of information into knowledge and scientific discovery is at the core of the emerging discipline of bioinformatics. In response to this emerging field, Clark's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science introduced an undergraduate concentration in Bioinformatics in spring 2004.
In collaboration with Clark's Departments of Biology and Chemistry, the Bioinformatics Concentration brings together faculty from the mathematics, computer science, chemistry and biology. By taking a variety of courses in these disciplines, math and computer science students have the opportunity learn how to work with scientists to solve complex, data-driven problems in biology and chemistry, and science students have the opportunity to learn about computational tools that are available to them.
This concentation is especially well suited for undergraduates who are interested in the life sciences and enjoy quantitative thinking. Students who graduate with a concentration in bioinformatics will be in a strong position to go into industry or continue their education in graduate school either in their major, or in a graduate program in Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is becoming an integral part of research in the sciences.
We invite you to visit the First Year Research Group in Bioinformatics.
Bioinformatics has developed at the juncture of the mathematical sciences and the life sciences; its development is analogous to that of molecular biology as a discipline in its own right. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), bioinformatics is "research, development, or application of computational tools and approaches for expanding the use of biological, medical, behavioral or health data, including those to acquire, store, organize, archive, analyze, or visualize such data". Indeed, there is a consensus among observers that biology, regardless of the subspecialty, is being overwhelmed with a large amount of very complex data; what sets biology apart from other data-rich fields is the complexity rather than the sheer volume of the data produced. It is clear that collaboration between computer scientists, mathematicians, biologists, and biochemists will be necessary to design information platforms that support the analysis of biological data. The application of mathematical and computational tools to all areas of biology is producing many exciting results, providing insights into biological problems too complex for traditional analysis.
For additional information about bioinformatics, please see the Bioinformatics 101 course description and read this story in ClarkNews.
|
|
|
Academic Catalog & Requirements
|
|
|
Biologist David Hibbett (left) and computer scientist Arthur Chou (right) collaborate in the bioinformatics concentration.
|
|
Additional Resources
|
|
|
|
You may also be interested in:
|
|
|
|
