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Student Science Training Program (SSTP)
SSTP 2007 - Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar (IDH)
The purpose of IDH is to teach the participants how to perform and communicate extensive journal research. Strong emphasis is placed on the understanding of in-depth scientific research and analytical processes. Upon completion of this seminar course, students are able to perform background literature research in complicated scientific areas and to discuss his or her understanding of the information in detail.
The Secret Lives of Bacterial Pathogens
| Leaders: | Jennifer Joseph Roslyn Frank |
Did you know that bacterial cells living in and on the human body outnumber our cells by 10 to 1? This course invites you to explore the world of these tiny microbes. You will learn basic bacterial physiology and genetics and find out what distinguishes pathogens from other bacteria. The class will consist of introductory lectures, group discussions, surveys of current literature, and student presentations highlighting the bacterial pathogen of their choice. We hope give students a general understanding of bacteria and to raise their awareness concerning existing and emerging pathogens and bioterrorist threats.
Cell Cycle, Signaling and Cell Death:
Mechanistic Approach to Understanding intracellular Signaling Events
| Leaders: | Shankar Sadasivan Dustin Vale-Cruz |
Cancer and traumatic brain injury events have been two of the major medical problems faced in the U.S.A. To have a better understanding of what goes on in these disorders, it becomes essential to know what happens at the cellular level which leads to the manifestations of the symptoms. Through this seminar course, we hope to help the students have an understanding of the intracellular events and signaling that finally culminate in aberrant cell growth in cancers or cell death in trauma injuries. We intend to incorporate the fields of pharmacology, neuroscience and cell biology into the course to elucidate the mechanistic pathways that lead to the disorder. At the end of the course, the student should be well versed in the process of cell growth cycle and also have an understanding of the intracellular events that influence the health and properties of the cell.
Using Science and Engineering to make Intelligent Machines
| Leaders: | Raazia Mazhar Mohamad Tarifi |
This course will look at the most recent activities and discoveries in Artificial Intelligence. Topics to be researched and discussed include the history & main paradigms of Artificial Intelligence, game theory, algorithms for basic games like chess, checkers -- from brute force to smart algorithms and expert systems. Other possible topics include Lisp and/or Prolog, Neural Networks and possibly Fuzzy Logic Systems, Computer Vision and its applications: facial recognition, handwriting, recognition, medical imaging, future artificial intelligence, and where trends are going in research. Other topics will be added, based on the interests of the students in the seminar.
Controversies in Health Care and Biomedical Science:
Sorting Out the Ethical and Legal Issues
| Leader: | Dr. Ray Moseley |
This seminar will explore many of the current ethical and legal issues and problems facing Health Care and Biomedical Science. Initial lectures will explore and identify ways to address and resolve ethical and legal problems, providing both a theoretical background in ethics and law, as well as practical problem resolving approaches and strategies. Students are then assigned selected topics. Two students are assigned each topic, and they must work together on the entire project. They research these topics both using Internet and library resources to identify the core issues and various positions different authors present on the topic. They present the results of their research to the class during a 20-30 minute presentation, followed by class discussion. Each project results in one 3-6 page research paper. Topics include "Assisted Suicide", "Cloning", "Stem Cell Research", "How Cultural Differences Affect Medicine", "Prenatal Drug Testing", and "The Rights of Minors to Decide about Their Medical Treatment".
A Summer at the Beach:
An Introduction to Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering
| Leaders: | Shaun Kline Jessica Swaney Nicky Sharp |
As more of the US population flocks to the coasts to live and vacation, coastal and oceanographic engineering has become a vital enterprise. From nourishing beaches to predicting hurricane storm surge, this field of engineering combines concepts from physics, biology, chemistry, and geology to arrive at a final solution that will have minimal environmental impacts. This seminar will comprise of an overview of coastal and oceanographic engineering, including the following qualitative topics: basic hydrodynamics, sediment transport, wave mechanics, littoral (coastal) processes, current projects, and how future events (global warming, population boom, etc.) might impact the field. At the end of the seminar students will be expected to research a coastal topic of choice and present this topic to the class in a small presentation.
Medical Instrumentation:
How Engineering Lets Physicians See Physiology
| Leaders: | Toral Zaveri Travis Richardson |
Everyone who’s been in a hospital, or just watched Gray’s Anatomy for that matter, knows that physicians routinely use a multitude of devices to help them care for their patients, but how do those devices work? This course will not only explore physiology, but will go beyond that by looking at how engineers and physicians have created ways of measuring physiology. We will be integrating anatomy, physiology, physics and electronics to explore both cardiovascular and respiratory monitoring, and in so doing will review many of the major medical instruments used in clinics and hospitals every day. Finally, once you are all “experts” you will get a chance to try your hand at diagnosing and treating a “real” patient.
Medical Neuroscience
| Leaders: | Jenny Bennett Tina Ellis Ana Turner |
Everyone’s heard of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but have you heard of Broca’s Aphasia and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome? Well, you will when you join three amazing medical students on a tour of the human brain. Not only will you learn about the intricate structures of the brain, from the lobes to the nerves, but you will also get to witness (and touch!) these structures in real human brain specimens! Besides that, you will also learn about the effects of alcohol and drugs on the brain, hear from clinical physicians in several neuroscience-related specialties, and maybe even learn basic clinical skills real physicians use to diagnose neurological diseases!
Introduction to Virology
| Leaders: | Allyn Spear Josh Bunger |
Introductory lectures will provide you with a general background of Virology and the various techniques associated with Virology research. Once you are better familiar with the field of Virology, we will focus on how to read, analyze, and discuss current research topics. The goal is to become more comfortable with primary literature, not to become a Virology expert overnight. The last portion of the class will consist of informal group presentations, led by 2-3 students. Each set of students will be assigned a particular virus of current interest and an article to present on that virus. The set of students will then be asked to do some general background research to prepare to lead a group discussion about the article, with the help of the instructors. Presentations will focus on the questions that were asked, the major discoveries, and the significance of the results. Non-presenting students will have to prepare to participate by reading the article ahead of time and formulating questions for the discussion. The overall goal of this course is to expose you to Virology early in your career and demonstrate just how diverse and far reaching the discipline of Virology truly is.
