During its first year as a formal organization, CIMS proved to be extremely successful as a mechanism for initiating new multidisciplinary projects. Working with a modest budget of \$30,000, CIMS supported a wide range of activities with significant impact across campus and the general research community. These included
| Interdisciplinary proposal in chronic wasting disease to the NSF Ecology of Infectious Diseases Program | |
| PI: | Thomas Hobbs, Forestry, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship |
| Budget: | $8875 |
| Budget Details: | 1/3 of a month for a NREL research associate for administration and proposal preparation; 2 credits teaching release time for Jennifer Hoeting (Stat) to direct the proposal effort |
| Interdisciplinary nature: | Co-PIs included Mike Miller (Colorado Division of Wildlife), Tom Hobbs (NREL and Forest, Range, and Watershed Stewardship), Simon Tavener (Mathematics), Jennifer Hoeting (Statistics), Mike Antolin (Biology), and Randy Boone (NREL) |
| Activity: | A proposal called "Dynamics of chronic wasting disease: Understanding controls on transmission using hierarchical population models” was submitted to the NSF Ecology of Infectious Diseases program in February. The budget was $2.5 million. |
| Outcome: | The proposal was rated “competitive” and the PIs plan an updated submission this coming February. |
| Interdisciplinary Research Group on Dynamics of Protein Folding | |
| PI: | Iuliana Oprea, Mathematics |
| Budget: | CIMS provided $10,000 and Mathematics provided $3000 |
| Budget Details: | The budget provided 4 months of salary for a postdoc in Mathematics called Adrian Murza |
| Interdisciplinary nature: | PIs include O. Iuliana (Math), G. Dangelmayr (Math), G. Szamel (Chem.), G. Barisas (Chem), N. Levinger (Chem), R. Woody (BMB), O. Peersen (BMB), C. Webb (Bio) |
| Activity: | The proposal was aimed at establishing interdisciplinary research projects between Mathematics, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. A secondary goal was the submission of proposals to NSF in research areas connected to protein folding. The postdoc Murza was proposed to act as a bridge between the different PIs |
| Outcome: | A number of research projects have either been started or will be started as a result of this activity. There has been a significant increase in the ties of I. Oprea and J. Liu to various scientific and engineering groups on campus. Some of the projects include
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| CSU Workshop on Small Angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in Biological Sciences | |
| PI: | D. Estep (Math and Stat), K. Luger (BMB), M. van der Woerd (BMB) |
| Budget: | $9000 plus administrative help provided by K. Chatnani (D. Estep’s administrative assistant) |
| Budget Details: | budget went to organizational expenses and travel expenses for invited speakers |
| Interdisciplinary nature: | Participants representing mathematics, physics, engineering, biology, molecular biology, biochemistry groups in various national laboratories and universities took part |
| Activity: | 60 participants from university and national laboratories in Colorado, Wyoming, Tennessee, California, Louisiana, New Mexico and New York representing mathematics, physics, engineering, biology, molecular biology, biochemistry took part |
| Outcome: | The workshop focus was to inform all participants on the progress in experimental SAXS capabilities and how this technique can be applied to biological sciences. This workshop had two major goals: first, to define requirements for the development of better software for evaluation of SAXS and SANS data and second, to establish criteria for successful application and interpretation of small angle scattering data. The workshop concluded with a round-table discussion between experts in multiple disciplines how to best approach the development of new methods and new software to interpret SAXS data. |
| Modeling Evolution of Resistance to Chronic Wasting Disease | |
| PI: | S. Tavener (Math) and M. Antolin (Bio) |
| Budget: | $2000 provided by CIMS, $4000 provided by Mathematics, appointment as instructor for a postdoc provided by Biology |
| Budget Details: | $1000 went to support Math GRA Brian Wilson and $1000 went to support Biology Postdoc Stuart Field during the summer, 2007 |
| Interdisciplinary nature: | Collaboration between faculty, students, and postdocs in biology and mathematics |
| Activity: | The purpose of the interaction is to develop new mathematical models and provide preliminary data in order to explain the rapid spread of the genotypes providing resistance in the deer population, and for the construction of more general mathematical tools to study the spread of resistance. This is considered a key component of a successful resubmission of the proposal "Dynamics of chronic wasting disease: Understanding controls on transmission using hierarchical population models” |
| Outcome: | Pending |
| Supercomputing Applied to the Dissipative Dynamics of Protein Folding | |
| PI: | V. Putkaradze (Math), D. Estep (Math), M. Holst (Math, UCSD), D. Holm (Imperial College, UK) |
| Budget: | No financial budget, just two weeks of D. Estep’s time |
| Budget Details: | D. Estep facilitated the creation of this interdisciplinary proposal through development of a connection to M. Holst at UCSD and formulation of the computational issues related to the science |
| Interdisciplinary nature: | Collaboration between computational science, mathematics, and modeling. Later the team will be augmented to include molecular biologists, engineers, and chemists. |
| Activity: | The purpose of the project was to develop the basic framework for a submission of a series of interdisciplinary proposals on modeling protein folding, including submissions to NSF, DOE, NIRT, NIH. The computational and mathematic framework will be augmented to include the relevant science and engineering as appropriate. |
| Outcome: | We have submitted the first proposal to the ACCELERATING DISCOVERY IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING THROUGH PETASCALE SIMULATIONS AND ANALYSIS (PetaApps) program at NSF. This has a budget of approximately $1.6 million ($1.1 million to CSU). We plan further submissions in November and January of next year. |
Details of the CSU SAXS workshop
On May 31st and June 1st , approximately 60 participants from Cornell, The Scripps Research Institute, Tulane University, The Berkley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Colorado State University, The University of Wyoming, The University of Colorado at Denver, met for a CIMS-sponsored workshop entitled Small Angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in Biological Sciences on the CSU campus. The organizers were Don Estep (Mathematics and Statistics), Mark van der Woerd, and Karolin Luger (both Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). The workshop focus was to inform all participants on the progress in experimental SAXS capabilities and how this technique can be applied to biological sciences.
This workshop had two major goals: first, to define requirements for the development of better software for evaluation of SAXS and SANS data and second, to establish criteria for successful application and interpretation of small angle scattering data. The underlying motivation is the widely held dissatisfaction with the current state of SAXS software. The workshop concluded with a round-table discussion between experts in multiple disciplines how to best approach the development of new methods and new software to interpret SAXS data.
The response from this meeting was extremely positive, and is leading to a major CSU multidisciplinary initiative in SAXS.