Carnegie Mellon, U of Pittsburgh to Offer Joint PhD in Computational Biology

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (GenomeWeb News) - The University of Pittsburgh and CarnegieMellonUniversity said this week that they are launching a joint doctoral program in computational biology.

The new program has already accepted a "small number" of students to begin in fall 2005 and spring 2006 and will accept its first full class in fall 2006. The program is expected to reach a "steady enrollment" of 50 students.

The program will include "roughly equal numbers of faculty and students participating from both campuses," said Mark Kamlet, provost and senior vice president of Carnegie Mellon.

Robert Murphy, professor of biological sciences and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and Ivet Bahar, professor and chairman of the department of computational biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, will serve as co-directors of the PhD program.

Carnegie Mellon has offered a formal undergraduate degree program in computational biology since 1987 and began offering a master's degree in the field in 1999.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine established its department of computational biology last year.