|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Course Criteria
Add courses to your favorites to save, share, and find your best transfer school.
-
3.00 Credits
Intended for the non-scientist, this course explores the biological dimensions of social issues in tropical societies, and focuses on specifically on the peoples and cultures of tropical regions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceanea, and the Caribbean. Tropical issues have become prominent on a global scale, and many social issues in the tropics are inextricably bound to human ecology, evolution, and physiology. The course begins with a survey of the tropical environment of humans, including major climatic and habitat features. The next section focuses on human population biology, and emphasizes demography and the role of disease particularly malaria and AIDS. The final part of the course covers the place of human societies in local and global ecosystems including the challenges of tropical food production, the importance of organic diversity, and the interaction of humans with their supporting ecological environment. This course fulfills the EDI requirement. Through lectures, debates and readings, students confront social issues in the tropics from the perspective of biologist. This builds a framework for lifelong exploration of human diversity.
-
3.00 Credits
Scientists are rapidly acquiring DNA sequence information on thousands of individuals from a wide variety of human populations. This information can be used to illuminate human history and evolution. It can also be used in the field of medicine to develop new drugs and as a first step toward tailoring treatments to match individuals' genomes. This information can also create new ethical and social dilemmas. Do such studies support or refute the idea of a biological basis for 'race'? Can the data be used to justify societal inequities? Do the data have any use outside of scientific circles? Through reading scientific articles we'll explore genome sequencing data to determine the types of DNA differences that exist among humans. We'll examine the data in the light of human population history (migration, population bottlenecks, selection) to understand how these variations come about. Throughout we'll discuss the implications of these studies for individuals and for society. In particular we'll critique the use of such information in guiding policy and practice in areas such as genetic screening and eugenics, ancestry testing, 'race-based' medicine, forensics. As an EDI course, we'll examine issues of power and privilege in shaping practice and policy associated with these genetic initiatives, such as in deciding what populations to study, in administering informed consent, and in addressing health disparities.
-
3.00 Credits
Genetics, classically defined as the study of heredity, has evolved into a discipline whose limits are continually expanded by innovative molecular technologies. This course covers the experimental basis for our current understanding of the inheritance, structures, and functions of genes. It introduces approaches used by contemporary geneticists and molecular biologists to explore questions in areas of biology ranging from evolution to medicine. The laboratory part of the course provides an experimental introduction to modern genetic analysis. Laboratory experiments include linkage analysis, bacterial transformation with plasmids and DNA restriction mapping.
Prerequisite:
Biology 101 and 102
-
3.00 Credits
This course combines lectures with field and indoor laboratory exercises to explore factors that determine the distribution and abundance of plants and animals in natural systems. The course begins with an overall view of global patterns and then builds from the population to the ecosystem level. An emphasis is given to basic ecological principles and relates them to current environmental issues. Selected topics include population dynamics (competition, predation, mutualism); community interactions (succession, food chains and diversity) and ecosystem function (biogeochemical cycles, energy flow).
Prerequisite:
Biology 101 and 102, or Environmental Studies 101 or 102, or permission of instructor
-
3.00 Credits
Making sense of what we see while watching animals closely is both an enthralling pastime and a discipline that draws on many aspects of biology. Explanations can be found on many levels: evolutionary theory tells us why certain patterns have come to exist, molecular biology can help us understand how those patterns are implemented, neuroscience gives insights as to how the world appears to the behaving animal, endocrinology provides information on how suites of behaviors are regulated. The first part of the course focuses upon how descriptive studies provide the basis for formulating questions about behavior as well as the statistical methods used to evaluate the answers to these questions. We then consider the behavior of individuals, both as it is mediated by biological mechanisms and as it appears from an evolutionary perspective. The second half of the course is primarily concerned with the behaviors of groups of animals from a wide variety of vertebrate and invertebrate species, concentrating upon the stimuli, responses, and internal mechanisms that maintain social systems and on the selection pressures that drive animals toward a particular social system.
Prerequisite:
Biology 102, or Psychology 101, or permission of instructor
-
3.00 Credits
This lecture-based course examines principles, patterns, and mechanisms of biological function from the level of cells and tissues to the whole organism. The themes of the course include structure and function, mechanisms of regulation, control and integration, and adaptation to the environment. Examples of these themes are taken from a wide variety of organisms with a focus on vertebrates. Laboratories provide practical's experience in measurement and experimental elucidation of physiological phenomena and functional analysis of gross structure.
Prerequisite:
Biology 101 and 102; open to first-year students with permission of the Biology department
-
3.00 Credits
The fossil record is a direct window into the history of life on Earth and contains a wealth of information on evolution, biodiversity, and climate change. This course investigates the record of ancient life forms, from single-celled algae to snails to dinosaurs. In addition to the intellectual discovery of fossils as organic relics and the ways in which fossils have been used to support conflicting views on nature, geologic time, and evolution, we will cover a range of topics central to modern paleobiology. These include: how the fossil record informs our understanding of evolutionary processes including speciation; the causes and consequences of mass extinctions; how fossils help us tell time and reconstruct the Earth's climactic and tectonic history; statistical analysis of the fossil record to reconstruct biodiversity through time; analysis of fossil morphology to recreate the biomechanics of extinct organisms; and using fossil communities to reconstruct past ecosystems. Laboratory exercises will take advantage of Williams' superb fossil collections as well as published datasets to introduce the major fossil groups and preservation styles as well as to provide a broad understanding of the history of life on Earth. We will also view a diversity of fossils in their geologic and paleo-environmental context on field trips.
Prerequisite:
Any 100-level Geosciences course or Biology 102, 203 or 205
-
3.00 Credits
A study of the relationship between brain, mind, and behavior. Topics include a survey of the structure and function of the nervous system, basic neurophysiology, development, learning and memory, sensory and motor systems, language, consciousness and clinical disorders such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, and addiction. The laboratory focuses on current topics in neuroscience.
Prerequisite:
Psychology 101 or Biology 101; open to first-year students with permission of instructor
-
3.00 Credits
Global reports of emerging infectious diseases and old diseases with new pathogenic properties incite fears for personal safety as well as national security. The specter of a contagious pandemic has captured the public imagination through the mass news media, movies, and even popular on-line and board games. In this tutorial course, we will explore the ecology and evolution of several recently emergent diseases such as SARS, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and AIDS. Topics to be considered include transmission dynamics, epidemiological modeling of vaccination strategies, and wildlife reservoirs that contribute to human virus exposure. We will examine progress in preventing the parasitic diseases malaria and sleeping sickness in Africa and why these diseases have proven so refractory. We will also discuss the science behind the recent development of the vaccine against the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, and the intriguing and highly unusual transmissible cancers in dogs and Tasmanian devils. Finally, we will think about the contributions of inadequate diagnostic capacities world-wide and broader issues of resource shortages in driving the global emergence of drug resistance in tuberculosis and other diseases. One common theme in each of these case studies will be the interplay between the host immune response and the evolution of the pathogen. Although the primary focus of the course is on biology rather than policy, each week's readings will have implications for public health and/or conservation biology.
Prerequisite:
Biology 101 and 102
-
3.00 Credits
This field-lecture course covers the evolutionary and ecological relationships among plant groups represented in our local and regional flora. Lectures focus on the evolution of the land plants, the most recent and revolutionary developments in plant systemics and phylogeny, and characteristics of plant families and cultural and economic uses of plants, native species. The labs cover field identification, natural history, and ecology of local species.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Privacy Statement
|
Terms of Use
|
Institutional Membership Information
|
About AcademyOne
Copyright 2006 - 2024 AcademyOne, Inc.
|
|
|