Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is pleased to announce the establishment of the Life Sciences and Dynamical Systems Travel Fund. This new fund is made possible with the backing of SIAM member Dr. Simone Bianco. SIAM is incredibly grateful for his generous gift, which will be used to support students and early career researchers who are historically underrepresented in STEM in attending the SIAM Conference on the Life Sciences and SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, where they will have an opportunity to present research, advance their career and network as researchers, and grow as leaders.
Dr. Bianco is a Principal Investigator and Director of Computational Biology at the Altos Labs Bay Area Institute of Science, and prior to that, a research staff member and manager of the department of Functional Genomics and Cellular Engineering at the IBM Almaden Research Center. Dr. Bianco has been a proud member of SIAM for 12 years and remains a vital member of the SIAM Activity Group on Life Sciences and Dynamical Systems through active participation in conferences and research. He also serves as a SIAM Visiting Lecturer on account of his expertise in the field of dynamical systems and commitment to education.
"I'm excited to join forces with SIAM to launch a travel fund for underrepresented minorities in STEM," said Dr. Bianco. "We value diversity and inclusion in mathematics and its applications, especially in dynamical systems and the life sciences. I owe a lot to the SIAM community for its support and encouragement, and I am thankful for the opportunity SIAM is giving me to pay it forward to the next generation of scholars."
The Life Sciences and Dynamical Systems Travel Fund will support three student and/or early career conference attendees who are historically underrepresented in the field by providing awardees with up to $3,000 towards their conference registration and reasonable costs of attendance, including travel, lodging, and meals.
Interested students and/or early career researchers will be asked to submit:
- A SIAM Travel Award application
- An applicant statement noting why the applicant wants to attend the conference
- A copy of the applicant’s CV
- A letter of recommendation from an advisor; this is optional for early career applicants
Applications will be collected via the same portal used to collect regular SIAM Travel Award applications. For SIAM Conference on the Life Sciences (LS24) and SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems (DS25) applications, a question will be added to the general SIAM Travel Award application asking applicants if they are interested in opting into consideration for the Life Sciences and Dynamical Systems Travel Fund. Applications for LS24 travel awards are open now through March 11, 2024.
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Many thanks to Dr. Bianco for his philanthropic contribution to fund this new program!