Notes from the Director, Fall 2016

Josua Weitz

Josua Weitz

Director Joshua Weitz welcomes the inaugural class to the QBioS Ph.D. at Georgia Tech.


It is my distinct pleasure to welcome the inaugural class of nine students to the Quantitative Biosciences Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech.  These nine students come from varied backgrounds and disciplinary training (see profiles on our website).

These nine students have excelled in research and coursework in applied physiology, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and physics. They each enter a new phase of their training with a formidable challenge: to integrate rigorous quantitative and computational methods into their research in the biological sciences.

The program faculty, staff and leadership of the QBioS PhD program are intent on ensuring they reach this goal.  Indeed, we are well-positioned to do so. Founded in Fall 2015, the PhD program builds upon faculty strengths in interdisciplinary research at scales spanning molecules to organisms to ecosystems.

The program also represents a vanguard approach to revitalizing the training pipeline in the life sciences.  We will combine short- and long-form coursework to enhance the readiness of trainees for meaningful and sustainable careers in industry, government and academia.

The QBioS program officially launched in Fall 2015 and includes more than fifty members from all six of the Home Schools of the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech. Incoming students have both sought out and are prepared for a new training paradigm embedding quantitative methods and logic into the fabric of their coursework and research. 

We are thrilled to welcome our inaugural cohort to Atlanta this August. We look forward to sharing news of QBioS research discoveries and programmatic efforts with students and colleagues.  We are optimistic that this inaugural year will set the foundation for a culture of meaningful collaboration and interdisciplinary exchange in the biosciences.

Come visit!

Joshua Weitz
Professor of Biological Sciences
Director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA, USA