On the weekend, I attended the 4th Annual AARMS Mathematical Biology Workshop hosted at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Workshop participants were a mix of graduate students, postdocs and professors originating from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dalhousie University, the University of New Brunswick, York University, Wilfred Laurier University and the College of William and Mary. The research presented covered a wide range of model types including partial differential equations, ordinary differential equations, time delays, stochastic processes, algorithms to build maximum agreement forests, and power laws. The applications of these models covered a variety of biological situations including cellular processes, the immune system, phylogenetics, epidemiology, ecology, and ecosystem models for marine systems.
For me, this meeting was a great way to meet other local researchers who have similar interests in mathematical biology. In identifying common interests, I think this helps in understanding good candidate topics for future workshops and summer schools, and to know where we can go for advice on different aspects of our research. For graduate students, I hope that these types of initiatives help to provide a breadth of exposure to better understand what type of research you like, and to get ideas for where you might like to take your research in the future.
… and Halifax was beautiful! Thanks to David Iron, the other workshop organizers, and to AARMS for providing funds to help support student travel.
Just Simple Enough: The Art of Mathematical Modelling 