>The result is that biology loses out due to the minimal real contact with math– the special opportunity of benefiting from the extra sense is lost, and conversely math loses the opportunity to engage biology
When I was a biology grad student, I was the only person in the department that tried to do active collaboration with the math department. I took more math classes during my graduate program than biology classes.
On the biology side, I got ridiculed for all the 'hand waving' that seems to happen with the math. Biologists want to see concrete experiments and results.
On the math side I found people to be much more open and fascinated by the biology, but they had a tough time explaining what they were doing to a lay audience.
No easy answers, but I think more programs should graduate people with dual skills in both subjects(and of course have job opportunities for those grads, instead of having them jump into industry like I did).
When I was a biology grad student, I was the only person in the department that tried to do active collaboration with the math department. I took more math classes during my graduate program than biology classes.
On the biology side, I got ridiculed for all the 'hand waving' that seems to happen with the math. Biologists want to see concrete experiments and results.
On the math side I found people to be much more open and fascinated by the biology, but they had a tough time explaining what they were doing to a lay audience.
No easy answers, but I think more programs should graduate people with dual skills in both subjects(and of course have job opportunities for those grads, instead of having them jump into industry like I did).