R.B. Morris has followed a lot of paths during a three-decade career as poet, playwright, and musician. But none of them would have obviously led him to his latest post, which is
songwriter-in-residence at the University of Tennessee's
National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.
The Institute is designed to face the "ongoing challenges of maintaining a safe food supply, avoiding economic
disruptions caused by emerging infectious diseases, and evaluating
methods to better manage the inevitable disease outbreaks that develop
due to globalization," which"may best be investigated by integrating modeling
and mathematics with the biological studies which are critical to the
formulation of public policy to address these challenges." (That's all according to the
NIMBioS website.) The songwriter program is intended "to encourage the creation and production of songs involving ideas of
modern biology and the lives of scientists who pursue research in
biology."
It's a month-long program that will last through June and include up to five songwriters. No word yet on what exactly will be done with the songs that are written.
