Undergraduate teaching at Clemson
In addition to the FishShapes undergraduate research experience I teach several regular undergraduate classes
BIOL 3350 Evolutionary Biology Fall 2018, Spring 2020, partial Spring 2021 and Spring 2022
Prerequisites: Genetics (GEN 3000 OR gen 3020) . This is a required class for our BioSci majors it meets twice a week for 75 minutes and is capped at 180- 220 students. Value statement: Evolution is the central principle of biology. Everything we study as biologists is the product of evolutionary processes past and present, thus evolutionary biology provides us with the tools to start to understand the complexities of life on earth from the amazing coral reefs to intricate biochemical pathways and everything in between. Moreover, evolutionary techniques and principles are used across medicine, agriculture, conservation, forensics and even computer science to improve our daily lives and health.
BIOL Senior Seminar 'Evolutionary Medicine' Fall 2017 and Spring 2019,
This is a small discussion class for our senior undergraduates, it meets once a week for 110 minutes and is capped at 16 students.
Value statement: Evolution and evolutionary theory impact our lives in many ways that aren’t always immediately obvious, from the food we eat and the technology we depend on through to issues of life, death and health. This class explores the broad topic of evolutionary medicine, examining the ways in which evolution is used to understand our vulnerability to disease and chronic conditions, as well as to find ways to prevent and treat medical problems. This course provides an opportunity for students to actively engage with cutting-edge topics in biology that are directly relevant to their lives and health. The small group discussion format combined with an individual research project enables students to actively participate in evaluating current research, identifying potential weaknesses and planning future directions.
BIOL 3350 Evolutionary Biology Fall 2018, Spring 2020, partial Spring 2021 and Spring 2022
Prerequisites: Genetics (GEN 3000 OR gen 3020) . This is a required class for our BioSci majors it meets twice a week for 75 minutes and is capped at 180- 220 students. Value statement: Evolution is the central principle of biology. Everything we study as biologists is the product of evolutionary processes past and present, thus evolutionary biology provides us with the tools to start to understand the complexities of life on earth from the amazing coral reefs to intricate biochemical pathways and everything in between. Moreover, evolutionary techniques and principles are used across medicine, agriculture, conservation, forensics and even computer science to improve our daily lives and health.
BIOL Senior Seminar 'Evolutionary Medicine' Fall 2017 and Spring 2019,
This is a small discussion class for our senior undergraduates, it meets once a week for 110 minutes and is capped at 16 students.
Value statement: Evolution and evolutionary theory impact our lives in many ways that aren’t always immediately obvious, from the food we eat and the technology we depend on through to issues of life, death and health. This class explores the broad topic of evolutionary medicine, examining the ways in which evolution is used to understand our vulnerability to disease and chronic conditions, as well as to find ways to prevent and treat medical problems. This course provides an opportunity for students to actively engage with cutting-edge topics in biology that are directly relevant to their lives and health. The small group discussion format combined with an individual research project enables students to actively participate in evaluating current research, identifying potential weaknesses and planning future directions.
Past undergraduate teaching at UC Davis
'Introduction to 'R' and evolutionary analysis' EVE 198 Fall 2014 UC Davis
I ran a hands-on class for undergraduate students unfamiliar with the 'R' statistical computing framework. I covered basic topics such as data formats, plotting, simple statistics as well as phylogenetic visualization and basic phylogenetic comparative methods. Each class combined quick lectures on specific topics with follow-along demonstrations of the code and ended with a set of questions to work through that applied the new concepts and those from previous days.
Schedule
Day 1: Data types in R (vectors, dataframes, matrices, lists)
Day 2: Introduction to plotting in R (plot window, scatter plots, histograms)
Day 3: Data manipulation in R (logic statements, sub-setting and merging dataframes)
Day 4: Basic statistics in R (parametric statistics and their assumptions - ANOVA, linear regression)
Day 5: Introduction to phylogenies in R (phylo objects, reading, plotting and exporting trees)
Day 6: Adding data to phylogenies in R (visualization of traits on the tree - this was taught by Sarah Longo, a grad student in Peter Wainwright's lab, as I was out of town - thanks Sarah!)
Day 7: Introduction to phylogenetic comparative methods (why are phylogenies important when studying interspecific patterns, why we use Brownian motion to model trait evolution )
Day 8: Phylogenetic independent contrasts in R
Day 9: Principal Components Analysis in R (What is PCA and how you implement basic and phylogenetic versions)
I ran a hands-on class for undergraduate students unfamiliar with the 'R' statistical computing framework. I covered basic topics such as data formats, plotting, simple statistics as well as phylogenetic visualization and basic phylogenetic comparative methods. Each class combined quick lectures on specific topics with follow-along demonstrations of the code and ended with a set of questions to work through that applied the new concepts and those from previous days.
Schedule
Day 1: Data types in R (vectors, dataframes, matrices, lists)
Day 2: Introduction to plotting in R (plot window, scatter plots, histograms)
Day 3: Data manipulation in R (logic statements, sub-setting and merging dataframes)
Day 4: Basic statistics in R (parametric statistics and their assumptions - ANOVA, linear regression)
Day 5: Introduction to phylogenies in R (phylo objects, reading, plotting and exporting trees)
Day 6: Adding data to phylogenies in R (visualization of traits on the tree - this was taught by Sarah Longo, a grad student in Peter Wainwright's lab, as I was out of town - thanks Sarah!)
Day 7: Introduction to phylogenetic comparative methods (why are phylogenies important when studying interspecific patterns, why we use Brownian motion to model trait evolution )
Day 8: Phylogenetic independent contrasts in R
Day 9: Principal Components Analysis in R (What is PCA and how you implement basic and phylogenetic versions)
|
The extensively documented R code that formed the basis of the class along with the datasets are available for download as a zip file.
|
| ||