BIO610 Graduate Student Seminar Spring 2011
Instructor: Dr. Denise Ferkey
Cooke 353
Overview: All graduate students are required to enroll in and attend Graduate Student Seminar (BIO610) during their first two years in the program. Each Ph.D. student is required to present two seminars in BIO610 and will receive a letter grade for these seminars. In order to fulfill the seminar requirement, the student must achieve at least a B grade in each seminar. Students may present additional seminars to make up for unsatisfactory presentations.
M.S. students will enroll in Graduate Student Seminar (BIO610) every semester. Each M.S./M.A. student is required to give one seminar in BIO610 and will receive a letter grade for this seminar. In order to fulfill the seminar requirement the student must achieve at least a B grade in the seminar. Students may present additional seminars to make up for unsatisfactory presentations.
The ability to communicate effectively, both written and orally, is critical for every scientist in whatever career you may choose. The purpose of this course is to prepare you to give effective oral presentations of scientific work.
In addition, you will be expected to critically evaluate the studies you present. This is another important skill for all scientists to develop. Whenever you read a paper in the scientific literature you should examine the data and evaluate whether the conclusions that the authors make are supported by their data. Also ask yourself whether the experiments were well conceived and performed well; were there other experiments or controls that should have been done in addition to those that were presented?
Grading. Your seminar presentation will be graded based on two criteria: 1) the quality of the talk itself and 2) the scientific merits of the talk. The first part of the grade simply evaluates how well you presented the material, i.e. was it a good talk? The second part of the grade concerns how well you understood the material. This grade is evaluated in several ways including what you say during the presentation and how well you answer questions. In addition, this grade will reflect how well you critically evaluated the material you presented. The two parts of the grade are weighted equally in determining the final grade.
Your seminar will be graded by a committee of three graders that you will choose. It is recommended that you choose members of you Ph.D. Advisory Committee. The instructor of this class may be a grader but this is not necessary. It is your responsibility to arrange for the graders in advance of your seminar and be sure that they attend your presentation. Failure to arrange for graders will result in a U grade for your seminar.
In addition, your grade in the class will depend on attendance and participation. Attendance will be taken and you are expected to attend every class. If you have more than one unexcused absence your grade will be lowered, more than 1 unexcused absence will result in a U grade for the course. Excused absences will only be for medical reasons, and must be cleared by the instructor within 24 hours of the absence. Participation involves asking questions of the speaker during the seminars, as well as participating in the discussion after the talk regarding the good and weak aspects of the talk itself. Exceptional participation can result in elevating your grade in the course and lack of participation may lower your grade.
First Year Students: First year students will not be giving a seminar in the first or second semesters. They are required to attend and participate in discussions. In addition they will write a brief (no more than one page and preferably just 2-3 paragraphs) description of the talk each week. This write-up should briefly describe the talk, including the experiments and interpretations. Most importantly you should give a few sentences critiquing the talk. What was well done and what could have been done better. Remember the speakers are supposed to present the material so that you (first year students) can understand it. If you couldn't understand the material say so in your critique. These will be emailed to me (dmferkey@buffalo.edu) no later than 5PM on the Friday following the seminar. Please be sure to indicate the name of the speaker and your name on your write-up.
Topics of the seminar spring semester: The second seminar that Ph.D. students present will be on their Ph.D. research. Students should prepare a ~30 minute talk that provides background on and introduces their thesis research goals (aims). Any preliminary data that you have may be included. However, please note that your talk will NOT be graded on how much you have accomplished in the lab. Rather, you will be graded on how well you understand your field of research and explain your project background and research aims. You should have formed your Ph.D. Advisory Committee and they should be the graders for this seminar if possible. If one of your committee members cannot be present, you may choose an alternate grader.
Master’s students may choose any scientific topic that is not directly related to their own research or that of their research advisor. This topic must be approved by the instructor.