Research Reviews in Ecology and Evolution
 
Fall 1999
Zoology 6927, Section 6071
2 units
Instructors:
Colette M. St. Mary (392-1636, stmary@zoo.ufl.edu)
Craig W. Osenberg (392-9201, osenberg@zoo.ufl.edu)
 
What: This seminar is designed to facilitate critical discussion of research projects at various stages of their development. Each term we hope to attract ~5-10 graduate students with various backgrounds who are interested in helping colleagues work through problems they have encountered in their research (such as the formulation of hypotheses, synthesis of existing research, design of experiments, analysis of experimental and comparative data, interpretation of complex data).

 Format: We will meet for 2 hours at our house during one evening of each week (probably Monday, Wednesday or Thursday). The lead discussant will provide an initial, brief overview of their project and research goals. This presentation will establish the foundation for the evening's discussion, which will focus on resolving problems and exploring new ideas integral to the project. The remaining 1.5 hours is spent in lively and critical discussion with the primary purpose of improving the discussion leader's research program, and indirectly helping all of us improve our own research by further developing our abilities to (i) ask compelling ecological and evolutionary questions, (ii) apply appropriate tools to resolve those questions; (iii) detect flaws in methodology, approaches and inference, and (iv) suggest insightful solutions to these problems. Readings might be assigned to provide background and/or to facilitate discussion, but we mostly anticipate detailed discussions focused on the student’s research.

 Who: Graduate students, faculty, post-docs, as well as advanced undergraduates with research experience. Because feedback at all stages in a research project is critical to its successful fruition, we hope to have a cross-section of students at all stages in their graduate training.

When and Where: Wednesday evening (7-9pm) at our home.

Schedule:
 
Date Discussion Leader
Sept 1 James Vonesh
Sept 8 Bill Pine
Sept 15 cancelled due to Hurricane Floyd
Sept 22 Sarah Bray
Sept 29 Becca Hale
Oct 6 John Paul
Oct 13 Geoffrey Blate
Oct 20 April Randle
Oct 27 Javier Barrio
Nov 3 Lenny Santistetsan / Joel Carlin (we'll meet for 3 hours)
Nov 10 Manuel Velez / Ben Miner (we'll meet for 3 hours)
Nov 17 Tom Glancy / Laura Sirot (we'll meet for 3 hours)
Other participants: Drs. Ben Bolker and Dan Brazeau