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Joint CMU-Pitt Ph.D. Program in Computational Biology
Robert F. Murphy and Ivet Bahar, Directors
2005-2006 Curriculum
All students will be required to take five of six core graduate courses and four graduate elective courses. The core courses are
- Molecular Biology or Biochemistry or Molecular Biophysics or Biophysical Chemistry
- Algorithms
- Machine Learning
- Computational Genomics
- Computational Structural Biology
- Cellular and Systems Modeling
Three of the elective courses must be drawn from one area of specialization and one may be from any area. The specialization areas are
- Computational Genomics
- Computational Structural Biology
- Cellular and Systems Modeling
- Bioimage Informatics
- Computational Neurobiology
These areas are fundamentally different in their theories and methodologies. Computational structural biology is usually based on physical sciences, computational genomics and sequence analysis on computer science, cellular and systems modeling and computational neuroscience on mathematics and engineering, and bioimage informatics on image analysis and processing. They all share, however, a common goal: quantitative evaluation/prediction of biological data/processes. Traditionally, these four areas have been advanced by researchers specialized in these five specific disciplines. However, it is widely recognized that they can advantageously complement/guide each other, and their combined use can induce synergistic effects. Our goal is allow the next generation of multidisciplinary researchers to possess an integrative knowledge of all five areas of computational biology.
Scheduling
We anticipate two types of course schedules for students in the program. The default for students who have taken the prerequisites will be to take 3 courses in each of the first two semesters (50-75% time) and spend the remaining time on research. Such students would normally take the 5 core courses in the first year along with one additional course. The third and fourth semesters would be split between taking electives and doing research.
Students who enter with some biology or computer science or physical science background but not with sufficient background to take all of the core courses would take a mix of missing prerequisites and core courses in each of the first two semesters (approx. 90% time) and spend 10% time on research. These students would then take a mix of remaining core courses and electives in the third and fourth semesters (along with 30% research) and finish electives in the fifth and/or sixth semesters.
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