A stalk of corn contains more genes than a human being. A handful of the soil anchoring that stalk contains more microorganisms than the worldwide population of people depending on the food it nurtures.
The potential to overcome drought while feeding an ever-growing population may reside in those genes and microbes. But their dizzying complexity, diversity and sheer numbers make studying them – and the ways they interact – a challenge that demands computing power and statistical analyses on a massive scale.
A newly approved doctoral program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has assembled more than 100 faculty from across four colleges to train future life scientists in the acquisition, evaluation and analysis of this so-called big data. In doing so, the program’s creators are aiming to equip its graduates with the skills to answer questions and solve problems that only big data can handle.
