IMA Threads

IMA programs proceed on many time-scales, ranging from a highly focused workshop of a few days, through workshops and clusters of related workshops, through quarters of concentration and annual thematic years, to longer threads that carry over from year to year as a subject develops. These threads are an important mechanism by which the IMA builds on earlier experiences. One program may suggest ideas for another. Communities and individuals which have become familiar to the IMA in an earlier program become a resource in developing another.

Mathematics of Biology. The IMA has a long-standing commitment to fostering the interaction of mathematics with the biological sciences. The chain of innovative IMA programs in mathematical biology spans twenty years, from the workshop "Applications of Combinatorics and Graph Theory to the Biological and Social Sciences" in the 1987-1988 program Applied Combinatorics to the 2007-2008 annual program Molecular and Cellular Biology.

The growth of biological applications of mathematics is reflected not only in the number of activities, but in the increasing specificity of the activities. When the 1998-1999 annual program Mathematics in Biology was proposed, concerns were voiced that such a program might be premature. Nowadays, a program entitled simply "mathematics in biology" would be considered ludicrously all-encompassing. Workshops as specific as "Evolutionary Consequences of Invasions by Exotic Species" and "Operational Modeling and Biodefense: Problems, Techniques, and Opportunities" now attract large interdisciplinary audiences.

As the field of mathematical biology has grown, additional mechanisms to foster that growth have emerged. The IMA has been a crucial source of inspiration and expertise in the development of new programs and institutions. For example, the NSF Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State, founded in 2002, has roots in the IMA. The MBI director, Avner Friedman, was director of the IMA from 1987 to 1997. Several of the initial lead organizers at MBI, including Bard Ermentrout, David Terman, and John Rinzell, have long-standing ssociations with the IMA.

The key IMA programs and events featuring biological themes are:

• 1987-1988 Applied Combinatorics. Winter quarter workshop "Applications of Combinatorics and Graph Theory to the Biological and Social Sciences".
• 1989-1990 Dynamical Systems and their Applications. Winter quarter period of concentration on mathematical physiology.
• 1992-1993 Control Theory and its Applications. Winter quarter minisymposium on biological control of movement.
• 1993-1994 Emerging Applications of Probability. Winter quarter workshop on mathematical population genetics.
• 1994 Summer program: Molecular Biology.
• 1996-1997 Mathematics of High Performance Computing. Spring quarter workshop on rational drug design.
• 1997 Summer program: Statistics in the Health Sciences.
• 1997-1998 Emerging Applications of Dynamical Systems. Winter quarter dedicated to dynamics in physiology and chemistry.
• 1998-1999 Mathematics in Biology. Year long program.
• 1999 Hot Topics workshop: Challenges and Opportunities in Genomics: Production, Storage, Mining, and Use.
• 2000 special workshop: Biocomplexity: Opportunities in the Mathematical Sciences.
• 2002 Hot Topics workshop: Evolutionary Consequences of Invasions by Exotic Species.
• 2002 Hot Topics workshop: Operational Modeling and Biodefense: Problems, Techniques, and Opportunities.
• 2003-2004 Probability and Statistics in Complex Systems: Genomics, Networks, and Financial Engineering. Fall quarter devoted genome sciences.
• 2004-2005 Mathematics of Materials and Macromolecules: Multiple Scales, Disorder, and Singularities. Focus areas in biology and biomechanics.
• 2007-2008 annual program: Molecular and Cellular Biology.