Teaching

Biostatistics (Biol 3763). Introduces statistical thinking in biology, with an emphasis on a strong conceptual and mathematical understanding of the process of estimation and hypothesis testing. After taking the course students should be able to support biological conclusions with data and interpret statistical results as presented in primary literature. Recitation exercises will introduce and use R statistical software, and a student-driven group project encourages creative applications of statistical tools. Syllabus.

Population and Evolutionary Genetics (Biol 4494/5494). Genes clearly influence nearly every aspect of organismal form and function. Yet, we would have learned very little about how genes affect physical appearance, physiology, disease susceptibility, etc., if genes were not variable. Likewise, all biology classes would be extremely boring if not for genetic variation, the ‘fuel’ that drives evolution. This course focuses on genetic variation; specifically, how do we leverage variation to learn about the process of evolution and the relationship between genetic variants and important traits. Syllabus. 

Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics (Biol 7050). I periodically offer a special topics course for graduate students focused on ecological genetics and bioinformatics. The format varies from year to year. Typically, we start with ~ 4 weeks of practical exercises to learn the command line and basic informatic tools. Then, the rest of the semester is focused on paper discussion and workshopping that help students to develop and execute a project applying original analyses to genetic or genomic data. Syllabus.

Biotechnology (Biol 4024) Students investigate core and cutting edge methods underlying the development of applications in biomedicine, agriculture, and environmental science, including molecular biology, genetic manipulations, and genome sequencing. The primary learning objective is for students to readily identify relevant techniques that will help them to address a diverse set of biological questions. Syllabus.