Call for Applications *US – Africa Advanced Study Institute on Conservation Biology for US and African Graduate Students* Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute, Naivasha, Kenya, January 10 –15, 2011
http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/ASICBII/ What is Conservation Biology? In a broad sense, conservation biology is concerned with the problems of conserving genes, populations, and biological communities. Among the key issues involved in the subject are biological invasions, habitat destruction, species persistence, emerging plant and animal disease, and climate change. As the subject has grown, so too have its links with epidemiology, economics, and the management sciences. The biological systems of concern to conservation biology are complex, and improved understanding has required increasingly quantitative approaches, leading to an urgent demand for better and more appropriate mathematical tools. At the heart of conservation biology is the problem of the optimal allocation under rigid economic, sociological , and ecological constraints of scarce parcels of land, wetland, and marine environments needed to preserve extant biological communities and to provide areas for the restoration of ecosystems and reintroduction of locally extinct species. The Advanced Study Institute There will be a 5-day Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Conservation Biology (January 10 – 15, 2011) which will prepare participants to interact with interdisciplinary researchers from around the world. The ASI will bring together US and African graduate students and introduce them to basic theoretical concepts in population demography and genetics; models of plant and animal disease spread; global change and the impacts of climate change; the use of GIS in models and for conservation, and case studies from the African environment. Various modeling paradigms will be discussed, as well as introductory lectures on related topics. The ultimate goal will be group projects that incorporate the material covered to address cutting-edge research problems. Participants are expected to either continue the research project they begin during the institute or begin work on a new project when they return to their home institution, under the supervision of a mentor. For questions , more information, or to submit an application to attend and receive financial support, see the website or contact Eugene Fiorini, Associate Director of DIMACS and Program Coordinator ( [email protected]). The Institute and Workshop are organized by the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) and the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI), with funding provided by the US National Science Foundation. -- Sadie Jane Ryan, Postdoctoral Associate National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) University of California 735 State Street, Suite 300 Santa Barbara, CA 93101-5504 Phone: 805-892-2520 Fax: 805-892-2510 http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/~sjryan/ *Starting 2011* Assistant Professor College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) SUNY Syracuse, NY
