This is a one unit seminar course designed to bridge students interest in biology to how we ask research questions. In my UG research plan, this is a place where students can see if they are excited about connecting their interests in biology, their course work and/or their career track to asking research type questions. We will also explore how to identify key research on questions you’re interested in as well as the societal benefits or costs of research.
Please contact me if you’re interested in participating in this seminar course (kbkaplan@ucdavis.edu)
The format of the course will be as follows:
- We will meet for one hour/week on Zoom (or in person if safety allows).
Students will take turns being discussion leaders. - Prior to our meetings, the student discussion leader will identify an area of interest in our shared biology (i.e, this is a very broad call) and at least one example media content that highlights the question. The media and question will be posted to a course Slack channel. Students will discuss with each other and me what are the main questions and we’ll develop these into an outline for the live meeting.
- Each student will write a short summary paragraph by the end of the quarter that describes the background to one of the questions we discussed, their recommendations for what the key research directions should be and a justification of their potential societal benefits.