Increasingly, mathematical methods are being used to advantage in
addressing the problems facing humanity in managing its environment.
Problems in resource management and epidemiology especially have
demonstrated the utility of quantitative modeling. To explore these
approaches, the Center of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University
organized a conference in Fall, 1987, with the objective of surveying
and assessing the state of the art. This volume records the proceedings
of that conference. Underlying virtually all of these studies are models
of population growth, from individual cells to large vertebrates. Cell
population growth presents the simplest of systems for study, and is of
fundamental importance in its own right for a variety of medical and
environmental applications. In Part I of this volume, Michael Shuler
describes computer models of individual cells and cell populations, and
Frank Hoppensteadt discusses the synchronization of bacterial culture
growth. Together, these provide a valuable introduction to mathematical
cell biology.