The purpose of this page is to help you find a partner for your term project. If you know that you would like to work with a partner but do not know anyone in the class, this page is for you. Please send Professor Gross an email with a suggested topic and a request for a partner. He will enter your name on this page so that others can contact you. If you have a "large" project in mind, such as a video or a magazine spread, or other such "produced" projects, you can have up to four people working on the project.
If you do not have a specific idea in mind, that is OK too. Just let Professor Gross know you do not have a topic yet, but you still want to work on it with another person. Your name will be listed on this page, and hopefully someone will contact you.
| student to contact | availability | proposed topic (optional) |
| RuDee Lipscomb | Full - closed | I want to address the so-called 'gay gene'. Does it exist? If so, how does it work? What if we could turn this gene on or off in individuals? Would that be right? Would it cause or alleviate problems? Can we even make that choice for another person? Since genes aren't light switches, would turning it off/on even be effective?
I'm a film major and leaning strongly towards a documentary (a la MTV 'True Life') style. This project can accomodate up to 4 students. |
| Zeynep Oktay | available | I wanted to study the concept of human cloning from a philosophical (thus partly ethical) perspective, dealing with whether clones should or should not be considered as regular people just like everybody else, and how differing notions have large implications on the uses of cloning (such as organ transplants). |
| Lucy Randall | available | I would possibly be interested in finding out out about how intelligetnce/and or specific talents are passed on genetically, like how the ability to play piano well or solve cross-word puzzles well has to do with A,T,G,C sequences or whether talent can't be quanitified at all?
[Prof. Gross - This topic will need some fine tuning but there is probably something that we can come up with in this general area that will work. Complex abilities like this involve multiple genes and environment so it is not possible to predict or even measure these characteristics at this time. But... there are some interesting traits that we can talk about.] |
| Timothy Chingos | available | I'm thinking about writing a short play titled "The Waiting Room" that observes conversations between individuals waiting to find out results about genetic tests. Specifically, I'd like to look at Huntington's Disease, as I have a friend who has yet to be tested. Exploring issues of visiting vegetative parents, getting oneself tested, and deciding what is the best way. I'm a Theater Major who loves the directing, acting and playwrighting. I'm thinking this could be done with a total or 2 or 3 students (which includes myself). |
| Emily Eberle | Full - closed | Embryonic stem cells have the potential to help develop and create medicines and organs that could save or improve thousands of lives; however, harvesting these cells requires the destruction of an embryo which would otherwise develop into a human being. Keeping in mind that many of these embryos are from abortions and would otherwise be discarded, is it ethical to harvest these cells? Should government funding be used for this process?
I would like to develop a mini-magazine (using Adobe PageMaker) which would address various aspects of stem cell research, including an overview of what stem cell research is and the different ways in which the research could imporve lives, and history of current government policy concerning funding and existing cell lines, substitute methods involving adult stem cells or new, developing methods of harvesting embryonic cells which would leave the cell intact, and possibly a breakdown of where different religions stand regarding the rights of the unborn. Space allotment depends on the number of people involved; entries could also be surveys or polls. Because of space concerns, articles should be concise and focused. There is room for several people on this project; however, because of the nature of the project the articles need to be written at least a week ahead of time in order to leave time for editing and layout. I would prefer to start as early as possible and finish early, to ease the stress of last-minute deadline crunches. I have experience in the use of software for editing and layout design and can implement any design we can come up with as a group. In addition to writing an individual article, all members will work together to edit the final version and design the cover. If you have any questions, feel free to blitz me. |
If you find something that interests you, please do the following:
[1] Send an email to the student who is the contact for the topic saying you are interested. Make sure to send a CC to Prof. Gross with this email so that he is aware of what is happening.
[2] Get together with your potential partner(s) to discuss the topic and make sure that you both (all) agree on what you want to do.
[3] If you feel that the joint project will work out, then you must make an appointment with Prof. Gross to go over the plans you have. This will help point you in the right direction and focus your ideas while providing you with some resources that might be useful.
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