The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) is organizing a Mathematical Biology Summer School at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, May 27-June 14, 2013, on a topic highly relevant to Mathematics of Planet Earth, namely “The Mathematics Behind Biological Invasions”.
Humans have introduced most of the alien species found worldwide. If these species manage to survive, reproduce, spread and finally harm a new environment, they are called invasive. Invasive species can change habitats and ecosystem processes, crowd out native species or damage human activities, ultimately costing the global economy an estimated \$1.4 trillion per year. The dramatic progression of an invasion involves a series of complex dynamical processes that requires sophisticated mathematical language to describe, quantify and investigate. This summer school focuses on the development and analysis of mathematical models that have and can be applied to these processes.
The summer school is based on three components: lectures, computer labs and group projects. The first two weeks will focus on the lectures and computer labs. Four international Distinguished Lecturers will give the lectures, and the computer labs will apply their lecture material to the modelling and analysis real biological invasions. The focus on the last week will be group projects where students will apply their modelling, mathematical and computational skills to solving problems in the area of biological invasions.
This event is organized primarily by Thomas Hillen from the University of Alberta. The main lecturers are Alan Hastings (UC Davis, USA), Mark Lewis (University of Alberta, Canada), Jonathan Sherratt (Heriot Watt University, UK) and Sergei Petrovskii (Leicester University, UK).
This summer school is an activity sponsored by the PIMS International Graduate Training Centre in Mathematical Biology, which is a training program focused on recruiting and supporting graduate students in this important interdisciplinary area in Western Canada. More information can be found here.
Alejandro Adem
PIMS