NEWARK , February 23, 2000 - New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has been awarded a $120,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant to create a Master of Science degree in Computational Biology to help fill the need for biologists with mathematical and computer science skills.

      NJIT was among just five schools awarded such grants out of dozens around the nation who submitted similar proposals.

      Professionals skilled in the three sciences are in high demand in such industries as pharmaceutics and health care because the quantitative sciences - mathematics and computer science -- are increasingly employed to solve research problems in biology, according to NJIT Professor Michael Recce, who will direct the new program.

      "A growing number of jobs require biologists to know a lot more about computers and math than students are getting in traditional Biology master's degree programs," says Prof. Recce, who also directs NJIT's Life Sciences Program and the school's Center for Computational Biology and Bioengineering (CCBB).

      "Unfortunately," he notes, "most educational programs in the life sciences use methodological and conceptual approaches to problems that could be handled more effectively using quantitative methods."

      Conversely, says Prof. Recce, students with training in the mathematical and computer sciences often lack the biological knowledge to recognize how usefully their skills and knowledge could be employed in the biological and health sciences.

      The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a philanthropic, nonprofit institution, was established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr., then President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation. The Foundation's programs and interests include fostering advances in science and technology, in the standard of living and economic performance, and in education and careers in science and technology.

      Planned for launching this fall, the new NJIT master's degree program is designed for students with undergraduate degrees in mathematics, computer science, the physical sciences, or biology undergraduate degrees, says Professor Recce. He says that students in the new program will be cross-trained in both biology and in mathematics and computer science.

      To meet the needs of students with different undergraduate backgrounds, two different "bridge" programs will be developed: one for students with a biology background and another for those with a mathematics, computer science and physics background. "We'll take them from a mathematics and computer science or physics background and teach them biology, or from a biology background and teach them mathematics and computer science," says Recce.

      By the time they complete the degree, students should have mastered the equivalent of the course content for both bridge programs, he says.

      The program will also offer night courses for students who must maintain full-time jobs.

      The new NJIT master's degree program is designed to meet an accelerating 20-year trend in the field of biology -- the increasing use of sophisticated mathematical methods and models to solve research problems and to develop new areas of study, says Prof. Recce.

      For example, he notes, the rapidly expanding field of genetics research requires biologists able to work with large data bases like the human genome project, a massive number-crunching project to map and identify the millions of bits of information contained in human DNA. Such projects could one day lead to pharmaceuticals that work better because doctors can look at a person's DNA and know in advance how a particular drug will impact the individual.

      Other research areas tailor-made for the "computational biologist" include: the study of blood and other fluid flows in biological systems, computational modeling of neurons and neuron networks, mathematical modeling of gait, rehabilitation technology, and biologically implantable devices such as joint replacement systems and even sight-restoring devices for the blind, says Recce.

      NJIT was selected for the Sloan grant because it is well along the path toward combining its strengths in Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics with Biology, says Recce. As New Jersey's public scientific and technological research university, it already offers graduate study programs in 35 engineering and science specialties and is known for its computing intensive environment.

      NJIT also offers a number of biology and health-related programs in cooperation with its neighbors, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), and Rutgers University-Newark. For example, NJIT recently created a Federated Department of Biology with Rutgers-Newark, offering both graduate and undergraduate degrees, as well as courses in computational biology and biotechnology.

      In addition, NJIT recently launched a master's degree in Public Health in collaboration with UMDNJ, and is in the process of introducing degree programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels to meet the need for biologists trained in mathematics and computer sciences.

      Another development aiding NJIT's Sloan grant selection is the planned relocation of the Public Health Research Institute (PHRI) from New York City to a new building on land adjacent to NJIT. Known for its research on infectious diseases, PHRI is also involved in molecular genetics.

      Plans are also being developed for construction of a new NJIT building that would house Bioengineering, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, and the CCBB.

      NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 87 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, multimedia, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science.

      Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has ranked NJIT as America's "most wired" public university for two consecutive years, U.S. News and World Report's 1999 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities, and Money magazine's most recent issue of Best College Buys rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology schools and among the top 100 overall. In September 1999, Mademoiselle ranked NJIT as the second most Internet-connected university in the nation.