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Core courses are planned as regular offerings, usually on an alternate year
basis. This list does not include the many topical graduate courses and
seminars that are also offered. Topical courses will differ from year to year
within a subject area.
Biology 110: Scientific Integrity and Research Ethics
This course is designed to introduce scientific researchers to issues in
research ethics. We will emphasize foundational principles underlying
scientific integrity and their application to a range of issues including data
management, animal and human subjects, collaboration, mentoring, peer review
and the ethical implications of different forms of scientific research.
Analysis and presentation of case studies will constitute important focal
points for discussion in class meetings. Dietrich.
Biology 119: Evaluation of Research Proposals
Participants form a review panel that evaluates about 30 recent research
proposals and determines the subset that are judged to be most worthy of
funding. Weekly meetings. Students write ad hoc reviews of all proposals,
variously function as lead and secondary panel members when discussing
proposals, and participate in panel discussions that lead to eventual rankings
of proposals. Throughout, there is reflection and discussion regarding the
attributes of compelling scientific proposals. McPeek.
Biology 120: Advanced Population Ecology
This course explores the description of populations, population growth, and
the determination of abundance. Examples are drawn from a diversity of plant
and animal taxa to illustrate the broad scope of population ecology, including
its role as a foundation for evolutionary ecology and community ecology, and
its contributions to applied problems in conservation biology, pest management,
human demography, and the management of harvested populations. Throughout, this
course will emphasize the development of verbal, graphical, and mathematical
models to describe populations, generate predictions, test hypotheses, and
formalize theory. Ayres.
Biology 123: Advanced Community Ecology
This course examines the mechanisms structuring ecological communities of
plants and animals. The course will consist of regular lectures, readings from
the primary literature, and individual projects. Topics to be covered include
simple two-species interactions (e.g. predation, competition, parasitism,
mutualisms), simultaneous multispecies interactions, food web structure,
regulation of species diversity on ecological and evolutionary time scales,
community succession, and biogeography. Emphasis will be placed on the
development of mathematical models and their relationship to empirical studies.
Irwin.
Biology 125: The Nature and Practice of Science
This course compares and contrasts the nature and practice of science across
the range of contemporary biological disciplines. Topics include: What is
science? What is the structure of scientific knowledge? What are the
philosophical, logical, and practical aspects of hypothesis testing? What are
intellectual strategies for successful research in biology? What is the role of
ethics in science? Format includes readings, exercises, and discussion. Ayres,
Dietrich.
Biology 128 and 129: Statistics and Experimental Design I and II
This is a two-term, graduate-level sequence in statistics and experimental
design as applied to biological systems. There will be lectures and
laboratories, regular homework assignments, and a major project of statistical
analysis. Topics during the first term include sampling distributions and
general hypothesis testing, contingency table analysis, correlation, and
regression (linear, polynomial and logistic regression, and model selection
techniques). Topics in the second term include analysis of variance, analysis
of covariance, experimental design (e.g., factorial, blocked, latin squares,
nested, and split plot designs), and a number of nonparametric techniques.
Emphasis will be placed on the use of statistical computer software (SAS) in
performing analyses. Cottingham, Borsuk.
Biology 133: Foundations in Ecology and Evolution
This course is a reading seminar in which graduate students will read and
discuss a series of classic and contemporary papers taken from the primary
literature on various topics in ecology and evolutionary biology. Each week a
set of 2-4 papers will be discussed covering a different major topic. The
papers will be chosen to expose students to the foundations of the major ideas
and theories. The course will meet one day per week, and each week a different
student will lead the discussion of the assigned papers. Staff.
Biology 150: Biological Modeling
Models are a basic tool for scientific experimentation, synthesis, and
prediction. Especially in the ecological sciences, models are essential for
evaluating how multiple factors interact simultaneously to generate observed
system behavior. This course will examine how models can be used to clearly
state hypotheses, frame research questions, analyze data, generate predictions,
and make decisions. Focus will be on the assumptions, construction, and use of
models, rather than on pre-programmed computer implementations. By the end of
the course, students should understand the complex linkages between the natural
world, data, and conceptual and mathematical models. Borsuk
Biology 162: Evolutionary Developmental Biology
The focus of this course is the interface between developmental biology,
evolutionary biology, paleontology, and systematics. Lectures will focus on the
mechanistic aspects of animal development including cis regulatory DNA and cell
signaling systems, cladistics, the fossil record, and animal physiology. The
evolution of animal development will be discussed in great detail paying
particular attention to the origin and evolution of bilaterian body plans.
Peterson.
Biology 169: Supervised Teaching in Biology
This course is required for all graduate students, based on the assertion
that an essential element of graduate education is the experience gained in
teaching other students. Such teaching experience is of particular relevance to
students interested in academic careers. Students will conduct laboratory or
discussion sessions in undergraduate courses under the supervision of the
course faculty. The faculty and student teaching assistant work very closely to
develop lab and discussion assignments. In some cases, the students are
encouraged to present lectures for which they receive detailed feedback on
their teaching style. In all cases students will receive instruction on
effective teaching techniques through weekly preparation sessions. Topics for
discussion include how to teach the material, how to run a discussion, how to
evaluate student responses, and grading. Performance will be monitored
throughout the term and appropriate evaluation, coupled with detailed
suggestions for improvement, will be provided. This course is not open to
undergraduates. The staff.
Biology 175: Genomic Circuitry
Many genomes, including the human genome, have been sequenced. Now,
increasing attention has turned to a cryptic, yet fundamental component of
these genomes: gene circuitry, i.e. the "wiring" that links together
activated genes in a genomic program. Specialized DNA sequences determine where
and when a given gene is expressed during an organism's life cycle. These
genomic "regulatory" sequences play a major role in basic
evolutionary processes. How do regulatory sequences encode differential gene
expression? How do they evolve? How do we identify and decode them? This course
will investigate these questions as well as landmark papers necessary to
understand present and future work in this field. Erives.
Biology 266: Graduate Research Colloquium in Ecology and Evolution
This course is required of all students during each term of residence,
except summer. An essential element of scientific training is in the critical
analysis and communication of experimental research in an oral format.
Evaluation will be based on quality of the work quality of critical analysis,
and on presentation style, including effective use of audiovisual materials.
All students will be required to participate in at least one Journal
Club/Research in Progress series. Although minor variations in format exist
among the several series, all students will make oral presentations that
describe work from the current literature or their own research. Meets
weekly.
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