BSC 6457  Introduction to Biological Research

Wednesday 1:00 - 3:30 pm WC-130
plus obligatory attendence at Dept. Seminars, Mondays 3 pm, WC-130


Announcements & changes: syllabus updated 18 Sept. 2017

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Philip Stoddard

Philip Stoddard
AHC-1, 219C
305-348-0378
stoddard 'at' fiu.edu

Matthew DeGennaro
OE 205
305-348-6678
MDeGenna 'at' fiu.edu

Matt DeGennaro

"If you trust in yourself and believe in your dreams and follow your star
you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and
learning things and who aren't so lazy." - Terry Pratchett, "The Wee Free Men"

Course schedule & Syllabus

Biology Dept. Seminar Series
Monday 3 pm in WC-130.  You must be there unless you have an approved reason for not being there.  

In class we will analyze and discuss the seminar as a group. Skills thus acquired can be put to practical use later. Another reason to attend is that your degree will be in biology and thus you should learn what is happening in other parts of biology as well as your own interests.  These seminars are often at a different time, and may be aimed for a more general audience, but they will be well worth attending. 

Glaser Seminar
Grad students are strongly urged to sign up for the Glaser Seminar, a week long seminar series given every year by an eminent scholar. The field of study rotates from year to year.

Course Goals: (download PDF with complete discription)
The overall goal of this course is to help ensure that everyone is successful in graduate school by bridging the transition from undergraduate to graduate education, and getting everyone a good start on their graduate research. By the end of your first semester, you will have read and thought about a substantial block of the literature related to your graduate research, and will have at least a first draft of a research proposal with substantial feedback. In addition you will have learned some useful things about designing experiments, understanding science, and dealing with ethical and practical issues that pertain to life as a grad student.

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Hints to the wise:

Grades don't matter as much in graduate school as they did in college, however strong graduate transcripts are important when applying for fellowships, and you do have to maintain a 3.0 average in your graded coursework.