Teaching

Starting in the Winter 2010 semester at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Prof. Patek will be co-teaching Quantitative Systems Biology with Prof. Peg Riley in the Biology Department.

Quantitative Systems Biology

The second semester freshman course, Quantitative Systems Biology applies the theme of modeling to core concepts in evolution, physiology and functional morphology, and ecology. Cutting-edge research in each of these fields relies heavily on mathematical modeling to understand how organisms function, interact with their environments, and change over evolutionary time. Students will learn how scientists use mathematical models for thinking abstractly about biological concepts. This course uses a combination of lectures that integrate applied math and the study of organism-level systems and labs in which students use in silico, in vitro and in vivo models to investigate those systems in detail. The course will be organized into three modules that flow naturally from one to the next: evolution (the genotype), comparative physiology and functional morphology (the phenotype), and ecology (organismal and environmental interactions).

Previous courses (at UC Berkeley) included Invertebrate Zoology, graduate seminars in "Comparative Analyses of Biomechanics, Behavior and Morphology" and "Evolutionary Origins of Communication". 

Graduate discussion groups have included Biomechanics, Animal Behaivor and, currently at UMass, "BAM" (Biomechanics and Behavior).