A model for cross-institutional collaboration: how the intercollegiate biomathematics alliance is pioneering a new paradigm in response to diminishing resources in academia

Abstract We present an emerging model of shared academic, intellectual and infrastructure resources that addresses the need for institutions to sustain their educational and scholarship missions under ever-declining funding. The (IBA) was created in 2014 by Illinois State University for this purpose, eventually growing to a state-recognized ‘Center for Collaborative Studies’ in 2017. As the impact of the IBA continues to expand, it is on its way to become a new education paradigm in response to diminishing resources, and it can serve as a model to foster collaboration for other fields of mathematics.