Participants in IIDS are nested within a vibrant community of scientists in which intellectual interactions and collaborations are many and varied. We encourage and foster interdisciplinary collaborations that blend the expertise of evolutionary biologists, ecologists, molecular biologists, biochemists, biophysicists, mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and more. This constitutes an important competitive edge to investigators because we can address research questions that are intractable to scientists from a single discipline. It is also an important element in the recruitment and retention of faculty, postdoctoral scientists and graduate students because comparable opportunities for cross-disciplinary training and research do not exist at many other institutions. Participating IIDS faculty and their research focus areas can be found below.