Editor’s Note — This story was featured in Achievements, a regular column that publishes on the UNL Today website and electronic newsletter. Faculty, staff, students, emeriti and departments can submit achievements to be considered for the column via email to achievements@unl.edu. For more information, call 402-472-8515.

UNL researchers Valery Forbes and Richard Rebarber led a multidisciplinary life sciences group of 40 international scientists in a workshop to develop predictive models for ecological risk assessment.

The workshop, hosted by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the University of Tennessee from April 28-30, is a collaboration between the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other agencies.

The group focused on developing an integrated understanding of the impacts of industrial and agricultural chemicals on biological systems.

“We believe that a multidisciplinary and integrative approach will lead to chemical risk assessments that are more scientifically sound, cost-effective, and management-relevant than current approaches used by regulatory authorities,” Forbes said. “The collaboration between math and biology, that is particularly strong at UNL, is providing new and exciting opportunities for improving the prediction of human impacts on biological systems.”

Forbes is a professor and director of biological sciences. Rebarber is a professor of mathematics.

For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/htqy.