Morsels from Numbers and Nature

Morsels from Numbers and Nature is a fun and relaxed way for mathbio researchers at any stage in their career to discuss their ongoing research and current thinking. This community-focused sharing series hosts 5-10 minute informal, unpolished talks as an invitation for discussion and feedback. Times will be rotating to accommodate for different time zones.

Join us on November 21, 2 PM ET for "Adaptive Scaling of Skedastic Response to Biological System Entropy".

Zoom Link: vss.nimbios.org
Apply to give a talk

Happy Morsel-versary!

We are celebrating one full year of our Morsels from Numbers in Nature talks. We’re incredibly thankful for the interest and support from our wonderful NIMBioS community. We’d like to thank all the participants who have shared their insightful talks—it’s been a privilege to host this series. We also want to thank each and every one of our listeners. We couldn’t do this without you.
On average, each video in our Morsels from Numbers in Nature YouTube playlist receives around 60 views. This consistent engagement reflects the dedication and curiosity of our audience, and we’re so grateful for your continued interest!

Upcoming Talks


November 21st, 2024, 2 PM: Adaptive Scaling of Skedastic Response to Biological System Entropy

December 19th, 2024, 4 PM: A mathematical exploration of disease and diversity in oaks: The case of oak wilt disease

January 16th, 2025, 12 PM: Mobility, Modality, and Aptitudes; A COVID-19 forecast: A preliminary study. 

February 20th, 2025, 2 PM: TBD

March 19th, 2025, 4 PM: TBD

April 16th, 2025, 12 PM: TBD

May 21st, 2025, 2 PM: TBD

June 18th, 2025, 4 PM: TBD


We encourage you to share this opportunity with your departments, colleagues, students, and anyone else who might want to listen or apply to present their work in an engaging and informal setting. Alternatively, if you know someone who would deliver a compelling Morsel, nominate them by sending us an email, and we'll follow up to gauge their interest in applying. 

Be sure to check out our YouTube playlist, where you can find all past Morsels talks. While we're seeing great views and online traction on these talks, we always strive for an enthusiastic "virtual crowd" to foster lively discussions!

Featured Talks

Juan Vargas Soto

Dr. Juan Vargas Soto, a researcher at the University of Tennessee, discusses a newly developed analytical framework for analyzing how animal movement, and in particular the correlation in space use across individuals, can affect the spatio-temporal risk of disease transmission. Correlation could be a critical factor for transmission of fast-paced parasites, but incorporating it in predictive models also represents a significant, yet exciting, future mathematical challenge.
Listen to the recording here

William Godsoe

Dr. William Godsoe is a former NIMBioS postdoctoral researcher and now Senior Lecturer at Lincoln University in New Zealand. His talk discusses his paper that uses “whimsical” examples comparing ideas of diversity in ecology to the narrative choices in the 2023 Barbie movie. The goal of his talk is to help mathematicians better convey abstract ideas about diversity.
Listen to the recording here

Kristen Rappazzo

Dr. Kristen Rappazzo is a researcher at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In her talk, she discusses investigating potential for bias in health studies while using weighted quantile sums (WQS) and quantile g-computation (QGC) in multiple situations using simulated data, illustrating potential challenges in analysis with directed acyclic graphs (DAG).




Listen to the recording here

Morsels from Numbers and Nature YouTube Playlist

If you missed the live talk, no worries. Visit our YouTube channel for the Morsels from Numbers and Nature Playlist to listen to at your convenience! 
Morsels YouTube Playlist
Contact us

Inaugural Morsel given by Morgan Mark, 10/19/2023

Mission

Our mission is to foster the growth of transdisciplinary approaches within mathematics and biology

Contact

contact@nimbios.org

1122 Volunteer Blvd, Claxton 114
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-3410

Nina Fefferman, Director

NIMBioS

From 2008 until early 2021, NIMBioS was supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  Any options, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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