UNDERGRADUATE SEMINAR / BY422

Thursday, 6:00 - 7:30 PM, Room 214 Snell Hall  

OBJECTIVES     TEXT      ASSIGNMENTS      LINKS      GRADING      SYLLABUS 2005

Dr. Craig Woodworth

Office: 210 Science Center

Lab: 205 Science Center

Tel: 315-268-2391

E-mail: woodworth@clarkson.edu

This course uses the Blackboard website: http://athena.clarkson.edu/

Office hours: Monday thru Thursday 12-1 and 4-5 PM 

OBJECTIVES:

The goal of this seminar is to help you prepare for life after Clarkson. Most students who major in biology at Clarkson will follow one of three career paths. The largest group will attend graduate school (although some students work for a year or two before coming to this decision). The second group will choose a career in an academic, industrial or government setting. For example, working in a laboratory for basic or applied research. The final group will head for professional school to become physicians, dentists, veterinarians, or  physical therapists. The objective of senior seminar is to help you choose the path that is right for you. To achieve this objective, you will attend several seminars and complete two assignments.

MEANS TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVES:

1. Presentations of Career Options: During the semester, there will be presentations by professionals from several career pathways. They will tell you what you need to know to succeed in their field, what they consider to be the best (and worst) aspects of their job, and what post graduate study is really like.

2. National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Application: The first document to be completed is a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship application (http://www.orau.org/nsf/nsffel.htm). To complete this project, you will read deeply in some area of science to learn information needed to write the grant application. Every year, NSF awards 900 of these fellowships to students entering Masters or Ph.D. programs in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. The fellowship provides a stipend of $21,500 a year, plus tuition and travel money for three years. It can also be deferred for up to two years. It is a prestigious award, and an honor that will appear on your CV for the rest of your life. The competition is stiff, but 1 in 6 applications are funded. Evaluation of applications is based on all available information. In considering applications, reviewers are asked to address two questions: (1) what is the intellectual merit of the applicant? And (2) what are the broader impacts of supporting the individual's graduate study? The proposal describing the research plan is the most important part of the application, but having good grades and GRE scores, and some previous research experience will not hurt you.

Why should you spend time crafting a NSF Fellowship application if you are not planning on attending graduate school? Proposals are a fact of life for researchers in universities, government agencies, biotechnology companies, and many industries. You need to demonstrate that you have some creativity, that you can understand and interpret scientific literature, and that you can organize your ideas into a clear, interesting plan. No one will trust you to conduct an investigation unless you are able to do this. To prepare for this assignment, you will have to become familiar with a topic in the primary literature. Something big and abstract like “genetics” or “ecology” will not do. You need to pick a topic like one of those suggested below and read everything you can about it. Focus on some specific but important aspect. 

Is ageing driven by mitochondrial mutations?

Does loss of the retinoblastoma gene lead to apoptosis?

The genetics of red light-mediated dormancy in Arabidopsis thalliana.

MHC genes and their role in asthma and related respiratory diseases.

Mutational changes in G protein-coupled receptors as cellular precursors to cancer.

Does fire increase biological diversity in forest ecosystems?

The role of cognitive maps on honeybee foraging behavior.

Can the phylogeography of zebra mussels predict future patterns of invasion?

What is the functional significance of gene order conservation in eukaryotes?

3. Personal Statement for Graduate School or Employment:  The second project is to compose a personal statement appropriate for graduate/professional school applications or for employment. The recommended text for this course offers you a large number of examples of real personal statements. As you will discover, the students who wrote them will probably sound like they have a heck of a lot better idea about what they are going to do than you do. This is an illusion. What they have done is crafted a statement that sounds very concrete, focused, and self-assured. You are going to do the same thing. You will use the problem you have researched in your NSF proposal as the intellectual basis for your statement, if appropriate.

4. Student Discussions: The members of this class have many things in common. You will shortly graduate with a degree in biology, a field that is undergoing rapid advances and offers good career opportunities. Biologists with advanced training are in demand to fill positions in industry, academics, and government research labs. Many of you are probably not sure of your career goals at this time. This seminar provides a chance to talk informally and discuss issues regarding graduate school and/or that first job search. My goal is to direct discussions, and assume a minor role. Therefore, I encourage interruptions, questions, and discussions at any time during class.

TEXT:

The recommended text for the course is Donald Asher's Graduate Admissions Essays: Write Your Way Into the Graduate School of Your Choice (2000, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA). This text is recommended but not required. You will also read deeply in some area of biology to learn what you need to write the two documents that are required for completion of this course.   

LINKS:  

NSF

The NSF Graduate Fellowship page:  http://www.orau.org/nsf/nsffel.htm

Information on the Graduate Record Exam:  http://www.gre.org/

The Medical College Admission Test:  http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/start.htm

The National Science Foundation Home Page:  http://www.nsf.gov/

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Web site:  http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/dge/programs/grf/

NSF FastLane (on-line application): http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov

Biology careers

Careers and services for biology:  http://www.biospace.com

Careers in Biology:  http://www.emporia.edu/biosci/carebiol.htm

Bio.com Career Center:   http://career.bio.com./careercenter/index.jhtml

BioCareer Center:  http://www.biocareer.com/JobsResumes/job_searchpage.cfm

Careers for Biology Majors:  http://www.furman.edu/~snyder/careers/careerlist.html

Careers in Biomedical Sciences:  http://www.clarkson.edu/~woodwort/opportunities.htm

Careers in Environmental Sciences: http://www.clarkson.edu/~tlangen/joblinks.htm

Biotech careers: http://www.medzilla.com/

Careers in Allied Health: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/10481.html

Graduate school

Peterson’s Educational Portal:  http://www.petersons.com

Applying to Graduate Schools:  http://www.wm.edu/csrv/career/stualum/guidschl.html

Graduate School Information:  http://www.gradschools.com

US News and World Report:  http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

GRADING:

SYLLABUS FOR FALL 2005:

Last revised by C Woodworth on August 24, 2005