Thinking about math and biology
  • Director, School Of Biological Sciences
  • Professor, Mathematics
  • Professor, School Of Biological Sciences
801-581-6848

Research Summary

I am a mathematical biologist who works on modeling complex systems ranging from urban, behavioral, evolutionary and community ecology to cell biology, immunology, epidemiology of viruses and antibiotic resistant bacteria, asthma, and cancer biology.

Education

  • B.A. , Mathematics, Harvard-Radcliffe College
  • Ph.D., Applied Mathematics, Cornell University. Project: Models of Structured Populations

Biography

I started my academic career as a pure math major at Harvard University,

moved toward biology as a graduate student in Appled Mathematics at

Cornell and as a post-doc at the Center for Population Biology at the

University of California Davis, and joined the faculty at the University

of Utah in a position split evenly between Mathematics and Biology.  My

original interests in ecology and epidemiology have broadened to include

immunology and many fields of molecular and biomedical biology.  I am

the author of two textbooks, "Modeling the Dynamics of Life" and the

more recent "Urban Ecosystems: Ecological Principles for the Built

Environment," and have furthered my commitment to the links between

research and education in my role as President of the Society for

Mathematical Biology and Director of the Center for Quantitative

Biology.