Information for Prospective Graduate Students
The Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group is linked through its faculty to the departments of physics, chemistry, and computer science. These departments are highly ranked among all US graduate programs and offer opportunities for graduate careers in biological physics, biological chemistry, and computational biology. The Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group is also an active member of the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology (CBCB) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This interdisciplinary program jointly with the departments of physics, chemistry, and computer science draws excellent students and faculty together to create unique research opportunities at the interface between the physical sciences, life sciences and engineering.
We like to draw the attention of prospective graduate students who consider a career in biophysics to these opportunities. Students with undergraduate training in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and/or computer science have all been successful graduate students in our group.
We want to expand briefly on what is exciting about our program and university. UIUC programs throughout the sciences are highly ranked internationally, reflecting our university's commitment to expose outstanding graduate students to outstanding resources that enable world-class research. For example, our university is home of the famous National Center for Supercomputing Applications and several other units with the worlds best computational resources. In addition, the university is home to the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute and other disciplinary units that offer unique computational and experimental resources. The faculty and students of our Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group are active users of the great resources, combining computational and experimental research. Our group itself offers a world-leading computational biology laboratory described on this web site.
Beyond research, quality of life here is excellent. The Urbana-Champaign area offers many opportunities for both athletic and cultural pursuits. The weather is mild and the cost of living is modest; excellent, inexpensive housing near campus is plentiful, and excellent bus service through the Urbana-Champaign area is free to UIUC students. Three major metropolitan areas (Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis) are within a short drive, and Champaign Willard Airport (CMI) provides direct service to several Midwestern hubs.
Our group, the departments mentioned, and the CBCB continually push to improve graduate student education and quality of life, not only with training symposia featuring international recognized visiting scientists but also frequent social activities. Finally, our group has close and excellent connections to research centers in the US and the whole world; our graduates fare extremely well career-wise.
Read more about research and computing in the Theoretical and Computational Biophysis Group in our online brochures "Bringing Physics to Life", "Bringing Computing to Life", and "Training for the New Discipline".