IPQB Leadership

BMSE faculty represent many of UCSB’s scientific and engineering communities, so students join more than a lab—they gain a network. With diverse strengths and overlapping interests, the faculty collectively offer broad research directions and the flexibility to shape training around each student’s evolving project.

About IPQB

The Interdisciplinary Program in Quantitative Biosciences (IPQB) offers studies leading to the Ph.D. degree and is administered by faculty with joint appointments in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Computer Science, Ecology, Evolution, & Marine Biology, Materials, Mechanical & Environmental Engineering, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology (MCDB), and Physics. IPQB provides intensive research training at the interface of the physical and life sciences and engineering in highly interactive, collaborative laboratories, giving students broad opportunities for multidisciplinary work in biomolecular structure, function, and engineering. Research areas on campus include enzyme catalysis, chromosome and cell-cycle regulation, the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix, signal transduction and differentiation, protein structure and interactions, biomolecular materials, biosensors and biomolecular electronics, biomimetics, biophysics, neurobiology, plant molecular biology, bacterial pathogenesis, and molecular virology and immunology.

UCSB Campus

The campus's character, physical beauty and location near a historic city with a diverse cultural life and commitment to preserving the environment all provide the setting for an academic community known internationally for its excellence and innovation. A member of the Association of American Universities, this vibrant, energetic campus ranks with Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley among the leading institutions of higher learning in the U.S. and Canada. Students know it as a friendly, welcoming place where their professors take the time to help them learn. The quality of faculty members testifies to the strength of UCSB's academic programs and the quantity and quality of its research. 

Academics 

UC Santa Barbara ranks among higher-education leaders in the United States and Canada as one of only 63 research-intensive institutions elected to membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities. 

Collaboration

The campus's Office of Technology and Industry Alliances reports that four to seven new companies based on UCSB research are formed every year. In addition, 66 companies on four continents (30 in California) are currently using technologies developed at UC Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara

Think of Santa Barbara and sun and surf come to mind. The chief problem with living here is deciding which of the many activities to enjoy. Whether you're into water sports like swimming/surfing/sailing, hiking, or biking, Santa Barbara has it all. You can challenge yourself on one of the local bike trails, go for a day hike in the Santa Barbara foothills, be mesmerized by a monarch butterfly preserve in your own backyard, enjoy a day at the beach or attend an outdoor concert. Santa Barbara's unique mountain range with its unusual east-west orientation on the California coastline creates distinctive microclimates that create a mild, desirable climate. Exploring the surrounding communities, you can experience the thrill of a zipline, go horseback riding, feel the wind in your face as you skydive, explore a local coffee plantation developed with help from a UCSB alumni, or find out what the Channel Islands have to offer. The possibilities are endless.