Biology Colloquium

Course Description

THIS COURSE IS DESIGNED FOR AND REQUIRED OF NEW CREATIVE STUDIES BIOLOGY MAJORS (both incoming students to UCSB and transfer students from the College of Letters and Science).

It will provide a roadmap to enter the world of research and point the way to becoming a junior colleague rather than an undergraduate student. We will discuss styles of research, creativity, philosophy of science, and faculty-student relationships. We'll also introduce you to the tools necessary to read research papers, to seek preexisting information in the library and on the web, to generate and develop your own ideas and papers. In the latter part of the course we will use this information to determine how to gain access to a research laboratory at UCSB and how to move most rapidly towards intellectual parity with the sponsoring professors, graduate students, and postdocs in the laboratory.