Lee Segel, an eminent applied mathematician and a founder of modern mathematical biology, observed that ''mathematical biology sounds like a narrow specialty, but in fact it encompasses all of biology and most of mathematics''. Much current research is driven by the flood of ''big data'' (next-generation genomic and whole-transcriptome sequencing, dozens of environmental variables measured globally in nearly continuous time) and ''small data'' (e.g., individual ion channels in nerve cells, motion-tracking of insect wings) that open new phenomena to quantitative modeling, and by the increasing challenges of biosphere sustainability.<br><br>The range of possibilities for graduate study encompasses the areas of specialization of all of the faculty members in the field, who current number more than eighty. The faculty members are drawn from fourteen departments in the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. There is opportunity for further diversification on the choice of minor subjects. Graduate students are admitted to the Field of Applied Mathematics from a variety of educational backgrounds that have a strong mathematics component. Generally, only students who wish to become candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree are considered. About forty students are enrolled in the program, which usually requires four to five years to complete.