UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center Offers 5-Day Summer Courses

UAB’s Nutrition Obesity Research Center will be holding two 5-day short courses at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

June: The Mathematical Sciences in Obesity Research

The mathematical sciences including engineering, statistics, computer science, physics, econometrics, psychometrics, epidemiology, and mathematics qua mathematics are increasingly being applied to advance our understanding of the causes, consequences, and alleviation of obesity. These applications do not merely involve routine well-established approaches easily implemented in widely available commercial software. Rather, they increasingly involve computationally demanding tasks, use and in some cases development of novel analytic methods and software, new derivations, computer simulations, and unprecedented interdigitation of two or more existing techniques. Such advances at the interface of the mathematical sciences and obesity research require bilateral training and exposure for investigators in both disciplines.

July: Strengthening Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity Research

Identifying causal relations among variables is fundamental to science. Obesity is a major problem for which much progress in understanding, treatment, and prevention remains to be made. Understanding which social and behavioral factors cause variations in adiposity and which other factors cause variations is vital to producing, evaluating, and selecting intervention and prevention strategies. In addition, developing a greater understanding  of obesity’s causes requires input from diverse disciplines including statistics, economics, psychology, epidemiology, mathematics, philosophy, and in some cases behavioral or statistical genetics. However, applying techniques from these disciplines does not involve routine well-known “cookbook” approaches but requires an understanding of the underlying principles, so the investigator can tailor approaches to specific and varying situations.

For full details of each of the courses, please refer to the websites below:

June 13-17, 2016: The Mathematical Sciences in Obesity

July 25-29, 2016: Strengthening Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity Research

Limited travel scholarships are available to young investigators. The deadline to apply is April 1, and applicants will be notified of acceptance by April 8. Women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.