Designing and Delivering an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Degree in Quantitative Biology

Abstract

With the arrival of new technologies, the biological sciences have become significantly more quantitative over the past 30 years. These new approaches have drawn in researchers from a broad range of disciplines; for example, trained physicists are now commonplace among biology department faculty. Yet, education in the biological sciences often does not reflect this large shift. Here, we outline a new program developed and taught at the University of Warwick to tackle the challenge of bringing quantitative, interdisciplinary education to the biosciences. We provide an overview of the course and the rationale for its structure. We then discuss lessons learned to aid others planning to implement interdisciplinary undergraduate courses based on teaching from research.