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Joint CMU-Pitt Ph.D. Program in Computational Biology
Robert F. Murphy and Ivet Bahar, Directors
History of Computational Biology Programs in Pittsburgh
The Joint Carnegie Mellon University-University of Pittsburgh Ph.D. Program in Computational Biology builds on a strong history of training in computational science in Pittsburgh. Carnegie Mellon began by establishing undergraduate degree programs in computational biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics, with the first degrees awarded in 1989 (surveys conducted by BioInform indicate that this is the earliest formal undergraduate program in computational biology in the country). Courses in computational biology and chemistry were developed for these programs that served to stimulate interest among graduate students as well.
With this background, the Mellon College of Science received a grant in 1999 from the Merck Company Foundation to create a new program in Computational Biology and Chemistry. The Merck Computational Biology and Chemistry Program supported both undergraduate and graduate students, and thereby helped to stimulate development of interdisciplinary, collaborative projects. A major limitation of the Merck program was that students had to be enrolled in one of the traditional Ph.D. programs. This limitation has been removed with the establishment of the new program leading to a Ph.D. in Computational Biology.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine established the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CCBB) in March 2001 through the initiative of the Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences. The Center's charge was to advance and disseminate computational biology methods and results, integrate the diverse activities in these areas that are ongoing across Pitt, and build additional expertise and capacity in computational solutions to key biological questions. The development of the new Ph.D. program in computational biology is a natural consequence of the educational goals and research progress of the CCBB.
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