Graduate Seminar
FALL 2008
2 Credit hours
Time: Wednesday, 11AM; Friday 4PM
Place: Hederman Science Room 201
Course Requirements:
Attend
14 seminars and present one seminar. Each component will be worth 50%
of the course. Each day missed will reduce the 50% for attendance by
5% (for example, miss one seminar (attend only 13 total), you get 45/50
for attendance) for each of the seminars missed. I will try to
divide the seminars equally
between the two days. The standard grading system to be used is: 90% or
higher = A; 85-90% = B+, 80-85% = B, 75-80% = C+, 70-75% = C, 60 -70% =
D, < 60% = F.
Format:
45
minute presentations. If you have some research you can present, that
is ideal. I would recommend you give a general overview of the issue,
and then zero in on something specific. For example, if you want to
look at the role of a potassium channel in the kidney, start with what
the kidney does, in general, go into the role of potassium in kidney
function, what affects potassium levels and how the system responds,
and then go into potassium channels and transporters in general, and
then your specific potassium channel. That will easily take 45 minutes!
My basic requirement is going to be
a talk of at least 30 minutes for a B and at least 40 minutes for an A.
Not to say that you could not get an F for a 45 minute talk, because
that is theoretically possible, but you will not get an A for a 35
minute talk, no matter how great it is.
The major issue in evaluation will
be the degree to which the presentation reflects an understanding of
biology. This is a masters level course, and thus an understanding
greater than the undergraduate level will be expected.. Reading from a
script does not reflect any sort of understanding. Being able to easily
move through the presentation with a few notes does indicate
understanding of the topic in question. Inability to pronounce words,
poor organization and poor delivery also indicate a lack of
understanding.
I will ask a few questions following presentations.
I strongly recommend you go with
something you know well, start out general, and move into something
very specific, ideally to something that is cutting edge at the moment.