Society, Biology and Computers Views from a Black Woman Scientist By Raquell Holmes Research Asst. Professor Center for Computational Science Boston University Financial Director Institute for African-American E-Culture

Overview Biology and Society Biology and Society –Interests of a student Biology and Computers Biology and Computers –A changing profession Computers and Society Computers and Society –Creating community and technology

Starting Out High School Interests: High School Interests: –Society, Math and Biology (Social arguments are often based on biology/science) College thinking: College thinking: –Jobs: Biology, Math and Sociology –Skills: Biology, Sociology –Money: Biology Biology in college: Biology in college: –Little math required, few societal discussions

Starting Out Graduate School: Cell Biology Mammalian Ovary: Cell Signaling and Adhesion Skills: General- inquiry, reading and interpretation Math- basic calculations, some statistics Computation-use of commercial tools.

Needing More Personal: Create learning environments Increase role of technology Increase social concerns Job Market for Biologists- Fewer academic positions for experimentalists Increased need for computation

Biology and Computers New ways of approaching life sciences.

A New Way of Doing Science Experiment Theory Computation

The “New Biology” Era Biology is an increasingly interdisciplinary science. The biggest revolutions in biology are emerging from engineering, technology & computer science. Genomics & Bioinformatics

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Cell (Machine)DNA(Program) Organism(Computer) Bioinformatics premise: from codes to life

The conversion Cell Biology--> Bioinformatics Cell Biology--> Bioinformatics –Biological data placed in databases. –Computer Science, Computational Science and Biology in one. Experimental--> Computational Skills Experimental--> Computational Skills – modeling, database, programming, algorithms

Training Required ModelingMathematics statistics, linear algebra, differential equations. Computer Science programming languages- Pearl, Java, C+, C++ Biology ecology, genomics, genetics, biochemistry, cell and developmental

Computers and Society Who gets to play?

Full Participation in IT means… Creation Creation Design Design Development Development Decision Making Ownership

To research, develop, and deploy advanced information technologies in concert with and in support of African-American communities. Institute for African American E-Culture

iAAEC is an IT Research Community Computer Scientists Computer Scientists Educators and Education Researchers Educators and Education Researchers Cognitive Scientists Cognitive Scientists Social Scientists Social Scientists Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs Youth and Students Youth and Students Community Activists Community Activists

Culture Specific Approaches Research: creating culturally dependent IT that works to bridge Digital Divide. Research: creating culturally dependent IT that works to bridge Digital Divide. Development: creating communities across the Digital Divide that design, use and create technology. Development: creating communities across the Digital Divide that design, use and create technology.

iAAEC  IT Development Zones Create social and collaborative environments that support the development of communities that design, create, and assess culture-specific IT. Create social and collaborative environments that support the development of communities that design, create, and assess culture-specific IT. One example is the High Performance Computing Lab Restoration Project. One example is the High Performance Computing Lab Restoration Project.