Since the start of the program in 2003, Truman's Mathematical Biology program has brought together a broad cross-section of talent. This is one of the things that makes this program so exciting, and it reflects the excitement that the broader scientific and mathematical communities have for the topic. On this page you will find the names of faculty who contribute their time and expertise to the program. You will also find short profiles of students who are or have been involved in the program.

Page Contents

Use these links to jump forward into the page.

• Program Faculty - a list of faculty involved in the program
• Program Students - undergraduate collaborators in research and information about them
• Current Students - students involved in the 2007 program
• Past Students - past undergraduate collaborators

Program Faculty

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Program Students

Current Students

	Tad Dallas Biology (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Fielden, Fore and, Kim (2008) Info:
	Bo Forrester Mathematics & Computer Science (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Ma & Hammond (2008) Info:
	Josh Kangas Computer Science (May 2008) Mentors: Buckner, Janick-Buckner, and Beck, 2007 Info: Josh will be attending the Computational Biology program at Carnegie-Mellon in the Fall, and he plans to earn a Ph.D. in computer science or bioinformatics. He thinks neural networks are really interesting, plays tournament paintball (but not in the lab) and loves to fish.
	Dianne Kopp Biology (May 2009) Mentors: Weisstein and Ryan, 2007 Info: Dianne plans to do to medical school after graduating in May 2009.
	Georgia Mueller Mathematics (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Fielden, Fore & Kim (2008) Info: Georgia has been accepted into Truman's accelerated masters program in Biology starting Fall 2008. She's the first math major to have eagened this honor! Yeah, Goergia!!
	Karen O'Connell Biology (May 2009) Mentors: Weisstein and Ryan, 2007 Info:
	William Petry Biology (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Fielden, Fore & Kim (2008) Info:
	Yu-yu Ren Biology (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Ma & Hammond (2008) Info:
	Molly Smith Computer Science (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Deggenhardt, Beck & Garvey (2008) Info:
	Spencer Tipping Mathematics & Computer Science (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Weisstein & Ryan (2008) Info:
	Jon Vollmer Computer Science (May 2009) Mentors: Kelrick and Adams, 2007 Info:
	Kurt Warnoff Biology (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Walston & Thatcher (2008) Info:
	Alexandra Wehrman Mathematics & Computer Science (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Walston & Thatcher (2008) Info:
	Brett Wiley Biology (Graduation Date?) Mentors: Kelrick & Adams (2008) Info:

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Past Students

Tracey Blasingame Mathematics (May 2009) Mentors: Gering and DeCock, 2007 Info: Tracey is interesting in finding a way to blend her interests in mathematics and statistics and her interest in finance. During the summer of 2008, she will be participating in a Boeing internship in the area of finance where she'll be asked to use her statistical skills!

Elizabeth Bobzien Biology (May 2005) Mentors: Kelrick and Kim, 2006 Info: Elizabeth is in medical school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Clayton Davis Mathematics (May 2009) Mentors: Walston and Thatcher, 2007 Info:

Corey Elledge Mathematics (May 2008) Mentors: Kelrick and Kim, 2006 Info:

Kathleen Field Mathematics (May 2006) Mentors: Baer, Rhodes, Beck and Miller, 2004 Info: I attend law school at Indiana University. Traveling is still totally my thing though. Currently, I am working on a Constitutional Law project with the Center for Democracy in Plural Societies - I am on the Liberia team - I'm a research assistant and I am helping draft chapters on Criminal Procedure and the Equal Protection Clause for the first Liberian Constitutional Commentary (and hopefully I'll be spending some time in Monrovia this upcoming summer). I accepted a position with a law firm in Louisville, KY. There is hardly anything about the law that I don't find fascinating (read: real estate) - and I am excited to get to work especially in the (admittedly diverse) areas of tax law, family law, and business litigation.

James Franklin Biology (May 2008) Mentors: Kelrick, Kim, and Adams, 2006 and 2007 Info:

Dane Guemple Computer Science (May 2008) Mentors: Buckner, Janick-Buckner, and Beck, 2006 Info:

Bach Ha Mathematics and Computer Science (May 2007) Mentors: Fielden and Ryan, 2006 Info: In the Fall of 2007, Bach will be taking his talents to the graduate program in Computer Science at Northwestern University.

Ben Hale Biology (May 2009) Mentors: Burt and Miller, 2007 Info:

Amanda Hamilton Mathematics (May 2009) Mentors: Weisstein and Ryan, 2007 Info:

Laura Hamilton Computer Science (May 2005) Mentors: Baer, Rhodes, Beck and Miller, 2004 Info: Laura Hamilton is currently studying in Sweden at the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology with the goal of earning a masters in Engineering and Management in Information Systems.

Bryan Hartwig Mathematics (May 2009) Mentors: Gering and DeCock, 2007 Info: Bryan is working toward a career as an actuary.

Chris Hassett Mathematics (May 2009) Mentors: Ma and Hammond, 2007 Info:

Matthew Heimann Biology (May 2007) Mentors: Fielden and Ryan, 2007 Info: In the Fall of 2007, Matt will take advantage of a full-ride at St. Louis University's Medical School.

Jake Henderson Biology (May 2009) Mentors: Ma and Hammond, 2007 Info:

Josh Kelly Mathematics and Computer Science (May 2008) Mentors: Burt and Miller, 2005-2007 Info: Josh Kelly is working at NISC in St. Louis.

Miju Kim Mathematics (NA) Mentors: Kelrick and Kim, 2004 Info: After completing the summer program, Miju returned to Seoul, Korea, and is now teaching mathematics.

William Leeds Mathematics (May 2006) Mentors: Kelrick and Kim, 2004 Info: Bill is curently enrolled at the University of Missouri, Columbia, in its graduate Statistics program. He's targeting the Ph.D., of course.

Mark McKelvey Mathematics (May 2006) Mentors: Gering and DeCock, 2005 Info: Mark just took the first round of prelim exams in Iowa State University's graduate statistics program. He's got his sights set on the Ph.D.

Meredith Mertz Biology (May 2007) Mentors: Osborn and Thatcher, 2006 Info: Meredith is on course to earn a Masters degree through Truman's Master of Arts in Education program.

Chris Miller Biology and Computer Science (May 2005) Mentors: Baer, Rhodes, Beck, and Miller, 2004 Info: When last we heard, Chris was at Baylor College of Medicine working toward a Ph.D. in bioinformatics through Baylor's program in Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics.

Olga Nikolova Computer Science (May 2006) Mentors: Buckner, Janick-Buckner, and Beck, 2005 Info: Olga is Ph.D. bound at Iowa State University's Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) program.

Roberta Rader Biology (May 2006) Mentors: Gering and DeCock, 2005 Info: Robbie is finishing-up Truman's M.S. in Biology program with Dr. Gering. She has traveled to Central America to do field work more than once in this time, and is currently employed with the Missouri Department of Conservation as a staff naturalist..

Morgan Reuter Biology (May 2005) Mentors: Baer, Rhodes, Beck and Miller, 2004 Info: When Morgan graduated from Truman, she went on to Case Western University's Molecular Biology and Microbiology program.

Andrew Schwendemann Biology (May 2005) Mentors: Obsorn and Thatcher, 2005-2006 Info: Andy started graduate school in the Fall of 2006 at the University of Kansas in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Rachel Van Amburg Biology (May 2007) Mentors: Burt and Miller, 2005 Info: Rachel will be starting a graduate program in Villanova in the Fall of 2007.

Phil Vance Biology (May 2009) Mentors: Burt and Miller, 2006-2007 Info:

Lara Varney Biology (May 2005) Mentors: Kelrick and Kim, 2004 Info: Lara is finishing up the training and certification that will allow her to become a biology teaching in a secondary school.

Susan Villareal Biology (May 2006) Mentors: Fielden and Ryan, 2004 Info: Susan is currently on the Ph.D. track at Cornell University.

George Wang Mathematics and Computer Science (May 2007) Mentors: Osborn and Thatcher, 2007 Info: George co-oped at Monsanto in the spring and summer of 2007 and is now a full-time employee there. George's job takes full advantage of his interdisciplinary training; he will be working with biologists and software engineers by communicating the software UI and output needs of a group of biologists to the engineers.

Elise Walck Biology (May 2009) Mentors: Walston and Thatcher, 2007 Info: Elise is participating the int eh summer REU program at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.

Nathan Whelan Biology (May 2009) Mentors: Gering and DeCock, 2007 Info: Nathan will be attending the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in Fall 2008 with the intent of earning a Ph.D in Biology. He'll be studying systematics and is hoping to work a decent amount of statistics into my course work.

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