RIT Hosts Bioinformatics Conference, Aug. 15-17

Bioinformatics is a hot career opportunity that blends biology and computer science. To give science teachers and other educators a grounding in the new field, Rochester Institute of Technology is hosting a national bioinformatics conference Aug. 15-17 at the RIT Inn and Conference Center.

About 25 biologists and computer scientists from all over the country will visit here for cross training in bioinformatics. The workshop was made possible by a $32,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

One goal of the conference is to bring biology and computer science educators together. The first half of the workshop will give biologists a crash course in computer science and vice versa. The second half of the conference will bring the two groups together to discuss common techniques, tools and applications, such as statistical methods in bioinformatics, distributed computing and biological databases.

Another goal is to make teachers familiar with current topics in bioinformatics in order to update their classes and to inspire the next generation of scientists.

For more information, call 475-2532 or visit www.bioinformatics.rit.edu/workshop2002.