Document Actions
Bill H. Bossert
- David B. Arnold, Jr. Professor of Science
Contact Information
| Nickname: | Bill |
| Office: | Maxwell Dworkin Building 135 |
| Email: | bossert [ AT ] seas [ DOT ] harvard [ DOT ] edu |
| Office Phone: | (617) 495-4318 |
| Office Fax: | (617) 495-9837 |
| Lab Room: | Maxwell Dworkin 142 |
| Lab Phone: | (617) 495-9552 |
Education
- A.B., 1959, Physics
- A.M., 1963 Harvard University
- Ph.D., 1963, Applied Mathematics, Switching Theory, and Automata Theory, Harvard University
Research Interests
-
- Applied Mathematics & Computational Science
- Modeling Physical/Biological Phenonema and Systems
Primary Teaching Area
Profile
Mathematical models can provide many insights into the behavior of complex biological systems. Professor Bossert develops predictive mathematical models in three distinct areas. In the area of evolutionary biology, Professor Bossert studies rapidly evolving species, reinforcement of mechanisms that produce mating isolation, and models of polygenic inheritance. He is currently studying selection pressures of competition in an environment with fluctuating limited resources and age-structured density-dependent growth models of plants and animals.
He has worked on models of physiologic function, particularly of the kidney. He is developing hierarchical models of the population biology of malaria.
A third area of long-standing interest to Professor Bossert is the management of marine fisheries. He has developed highly interactive computer simulations of stock-industry management, for use in devising policies to smooth fluctuations in harvests and profits in herring fisheries, for analyzing models of multispecies marine ecosystems, and for managing such systems.
A continuing independent interest is the interactive use of computers in the classroom, particularly for teaching math and science at the primary and secondary school levels.
