Current Topics in Ecology and Evolution
EEB 3894 Overview
Undergraduate Seminar at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Spring, 2009
1 credit
Thursday 2:30-5pm
Bamford conference room (Torrey Life Sciences 171b)
Instructors: Tobias Landberg & Katherine Shaw
We will meet all the distinguished scientists on this semester's list of speakers. Student will be responsible for participating in each meeting. We will read at least one research article written by a different visiting scholar every week. After a half hour of discussion, we will meet the person behind the science and then hear them give an hour-long research seminar. This course is for undergraduate students interested in broadening their understanding of modern ecology and evolutionary biology by engaging in active discussion.
Grades will be calculated out of 140 points (10 points/week)
Attendance= 4 points/week Attend discussion and seminar every week.
Participation= 4 points/week Ask questions, volunteer comments and engage in constructive discussion with peers and speaker.
1 page response paper= 2 points/week Typed, double-spaced response to the research article.
Leading 1 discussion= 10 points Pick research article for the discussion, summarize and focus discussion with peers.
- Email Kat (katherine.shaw@uconn.edu) with article choice @ least 1 week before you lead seminar discussion.
Spring 2009 Seminars
(Thursday @ 4:00PM in BPB 130 unless otherwise noted)
January 22, 2009
Stuart McDaniel (Washington University)
Mating system, hybrid incompatibility, and diversification in mosses
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/gardenfun/frogiconjoel.gif
January 29, 2009
Rick Blob (Clemson University)
Functional diversity: insights from studies of weird animals doing strange things
February 2, 2009
Frank Moore (The University of Southern Mississippi)
TBA
MONDAY SEMINAR @ 4:00PM in BPB 130
February 5, 2009
Bud Ward (The Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media)
Bridging the Science/Journalism Gap in a Time of Epochal Change
4:00PM in Dodd Center: Teale Lecture Series
February 12, 2009
David Fastovsky (University of Rhode Island) Catastrophic Extinction of the Dinosaurs at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary
February 19, 2009
Maria Uriarte (Columbia University) TBA
February 25, 2009
John Haught (Georgetown University)
Evolution and Faith: What Is at Stake?
WEDNESDAY SEMINAR @ 4:00PM in Dodd Center: Darwin Lecture Series
March 5, 2009
Catherine Potvin (McGIll University)
Forest carbon stocks and land-use: Reconciling the international agenda with the needs of indigenous populations
4:00PM in Dodd Center: Teale Lecture Series
March 19, 2009
Mark Hauser (Harvard University)
The Evolution of a Moral Grammar
4:00PM in Dodd Center: Darwin Lecture Series
March 25, 2009
John Beatty (University of British Columbia)
Karl Popper, Darwinianism, and Totalitarianism: Evolutionary Theory and Political Ideology
WEDNESDAY SEMINAR @ 4:00PM in Dodd Center: Darwin Lecture Series
March 26, 2009
Bill Shipley (Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec)
Modelling trait-based community assembly through entropy maximization
April 2, 2009
Michael Mares (University of Oklahoma)
Sun Tzu and the Art of War: How the Battle of Museums to Survive has a Negative Impact on Nature and the Environment
4:00PM in Dodd Center: Teale Lecture Series
April 9, 2009
Casey Dunn (Brown University)
Scalable and portable phylogenetic strategies in the era of high throughput sequencing
April 15, 2009
Paul Ewald (University of Louisville)
Darwinian Medicine
WEDNESDAY SEMINAR @ 4:00PM in Dodd Center: Darwin Lecture Series
April 23, 2009
Osvaldo Sala (Brown University)
Spatial and temporal controls of carbon cycling in arid and semiarid ecosystems
April 30, 2009
Jolanta Miadlikowska (Duke University)
Exploring lichen symbiosis and its contribution to the diversification of Ascomycota
EEB 3894 Semester Schedule
Trouble accessing the discussion article when off campus? First sign into the UConn VPN and then try the link.
Date | Seminar Speaker | Presenter | Discussion Article |
22 January | Stuart McDaniel | Tobias & Kat | None - Discuss Syllabus and Website |
29 January | Rick Blob | LeRoy | To be posted on 1/26/09 |
05 February (Teale Lecture Series*) |
Bud Ward | Nikisha | |
12 February | David Fastovsky | Greg | |
19 February | Maria Uriarte | Michael | |
25 February (Darwin Lecture Series*) (Wednesday Seminar**) |
John Haught | Thomas | |
05 March (Teale Lecture Series*) |
Catherine Potvin | Ralph | |
12 March | **Spring Break** | **No Class** | |
19 March (Darwin Lecture Series*) |
Mark Hauser | Yalitza | |
26 March | Bill Shipley | Laura | |
2 April November (Teale Lecture Series*) |
Michael Mares | ||
9 April | Casey Dunn | ||
15 April (Darwin Lecture Series*) (Wednesday Seminar**) |
Paul Ewald | ||
23 April | Osvaldo Sala | ||
30 April | Jolanta Miadlikowska |
* Seminars in the Darwin Lecture Series and Teale Lecture Series are held in the Konover Auditorium of the Dodd Center (near the Homer Babbidge Library).
** The department seminar will be held on Wednesday of this week. We will discuss a paper on Thursday, and students are encouraged to attend the seminar on Wednesday.