BME 94F S21
Sophomore Rotations
(Last Update:
2021 May 21 15:56 PDT
)
Overview
This "group tutorial" is a prototype run for a new course intended to
assist second-year undergraduates in finding research labs that they
might join.
To register, contact Kevin
Karplus karplus@soe.ucsc.edu
for the class number.
This syllabus is a work in progress—expect changes as the course develops.
Instructor:
Kevin Karplus karplus@soe.ucsc.edu
Meeting times:
Fridays 2:40–3:45 p.m.
https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/91798341866?pwd=VFhNcXh0Y2xnZm5NSElUSTNrZldGdz09
Office hours:
Zoom only this quarter: Wed 12:30–1:30, Th 2:30–3:30.
https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98729388991?pwd=NEw3VlJ1VU54Q3JiMW5uWmdvNkdMQT09
Email for an appointment if you can't make regular office hours:
karplus@soe.ucsc.edu
Overview:
This course is a prototype run of a new 2-unit course to try to
get students to affiliate with research labs before their third
year.
In it, students will sit in on weekly lab group meetings, read
papers relevant for that research lab, and report on the research to
other students in the course.
The course is split into two 5-week periods, each of which will be
spent in a different lab group. To help students find lab groups to
join, the first meeting of the quarter is the BME Lab
Fair, in which
researchers from interested lab groups will give lightning talks
about what their group is doing. Any BMEB major or proposed major
can attend the Lab Fair.
There will be a sign-up sheet at the fair for students in the
course to meet with the faculty in the next few days for further
discussion about sitting in on a lab group.
This signup will only be available to students in the BME 94F course.
Target audience:
The primary audience are second-year BMEB majors and
proposed majors.
Prerequisites:
This is intended for second-year students, and there are no
prerequisites.
Requirements satisfied:
This course does not satisfy any graduation requirements, nor is
it a prerequisite for any further courses. Take this course because
you want to do it, not because you have to.
Workload:
Expect to average about
6 hours/week on the course: 1 hour in class, 1–2 hours in
lab-group meetings, 2–3 hours reading papers for the lab group, and 1
hour writing summaries and preparing presentations.
Textbooks:
There are no required textbooks for the course—students
will be assigned papers to read by their lab-group mentors.
For advice on writing, I refer students to the free resource https://leanpub.com/design_report_guidelines
Evaluation:
Students will be evaluated on the written (60%) and oral (40%) summaries
they make of what is happening in the lab group they attend.
Attendance is required for both the lab-group meetings and the
weekly class meetings. Missing more than two meetings during the
quarter is grounds for failure.
Students are encouraged to register for the course on a pass/no-pass basis.
Outcomes:
Students completing this course will be able to
- describe the research of two research lab groups in detail, in
a way comprehensible to BMEB students not familiar with the lab
group's topics,
- describe the general areas of research of several other lab groups,
and
- write clearly about the current status of several research projects.
Names and pronouns
The pronouns "he, him, his" are best when referring to me in the
third person. It is acceptable to address me as "Kevin", "Professor",
"Professor Karplus", but not as "Dr. Karplus" (I have a Ph.D., not an
M.D., and prefer not to use "Doctor" as a title) or "Mr. Karplus".
Although I will attempt to learn student names and pronouns, I have
much lower than average ability at remembering names and faces.
On Zoom, with poor lighting and web cameras, I'm lucky if I
recognize people whom I already know well.
It will be surprising if I manage to learn and retain more than one
name a week.
Please do not be offended if I get your name or preferred pronoun
wrong—my disability with names and faces is to blame, not any
intention to insult.
Homework
Weekly, starting with second week, each student will write a 200–300-word report
on the lab group being visited.
This report is due at noon on
Fridays (with a 2½ hour grace period for late submission). All
reports must be submitted as single, readable PDF files on
Canvas. Reports will not be accepted in other formats, nor will they
be accepted by e-mail.
- By Wednesday of second week, report which lab group being joined, when it meets, and
show permission to sit in on lab meeting. There will be
either a Canvas assignment or a Google Form to record this information.
- On Friday of the second week, the first report is due. It
should give the name of the group being joined, the faculty leading
the research group, and a brief summary of topics currently being
researched.
The information in the report should come from a
combination of the lightning talk at the BME Lab Fair, subsequent
conversations with the faculty, and any research web pages that the
lab has.
- In the second week, every student will give an 2-minute
elevator talk (no visual aids) giving an overview of the topics of
the lab they are sitting in on.
- Each week after the first, students will do a written report (200–300
words) on one of three topics:
- the main topics of research for the lab,
- a paper they have been given to read by the lab group,
- a recent presentation in the lab group meeting.
The first summary should generally be an overview of the lab, with
subsequent summaries alternating between papers and lab-group presentations.
- Each week after the first, a subset of students will do a
presentation on the topic of their lab group. Presentation styles
will vary through the quarter (8-minute presentations with slides,
elevator talks, posters, … ).
Schedule
| Date
| Meeting Topic(s)
| Due |
|---|
| Fri 2021 Apr 2 |
BME Lab Fair |
|
| Wed 2021 Apr 7 |
NA |
show permission |
| Fri 2021 Apr 9 |
Brief verbal reports on what labs are being attended and what the
main topics of the lab are. |
200–300-word description of lab 1 |
| Fri 2021 Apr 16 |
First half of class give 8-minute presentations with slides |
written report on lab group meetings |
| Fri 2021 Apr 23 |
Second half of class give 8-minute presentations with slides |
written report on lab group meetings |
| Thurs 2021 Apr 29 |
NA |
Permission to join second lab group |
| Fri 2021 Apr 30 |
3-minute elevator talks on first lab |
written report on lab group meetings |
| Fri 2021 May 7 |
3-minute elevator talks on 2nd lab |
200–300-word description of lab 2 |
| Fri 2021 May 14 |
8-minute presentations (first half) |
written report on lab group meetings |
| Fri 2021 May 21 |
8-minute presentations (second half) |
written report on lab group meetings |
| Thurs 2021 May 22 |
|
5-minute video (submit link to video through
Canvas—be sure to share the video with
karplus@soe.ucsc.edu, so that I can access it).
Videos can be on YuJa, Google Drive, or other places I
can download from. |
| Fri 2021 May 28 |
5-minute videos presented |
written report on lab group meetings |
| Fri 2021 Jun 4 |
Discussion about BMEB curriculum, career advice, … |
written report on lab group meetings |
| Tuesday 2021 June 8 4–7 p.m. |
Final exam slot (no meeting planned) |
500-word reflection on whole course and future plans. |
Questions about page content should be directed to
Kevin Karplus
Biomolecular Engineering
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
USA
karplus@soe.ucsc.edu
1-831-459-4250
318 Physical Sciences Building
