2018 SUMMER FIELD COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT
*Marine Microbial Ecology - 3 credits* *COURSE LOCATION: *LUMCON's DeFelice Marine Center, Cocodrie, Louisiana. The Marine Center is located in the saltmarshes of Louisiana's dynamic and threatened coastline. Saltmarshes, bays, barrier islands, and the Gulf of Mexico and going to be the classroom for this transformative new approach to learning about the microbial ecology of this productive system. Visit here <http://lumcon.edu/> to learn more about LUMCON and the DeFelice Marine Center. *Course Instructors:* Dr. Aimee Hollander, Assistant Professor Nicholls State University, PhD in Microbiology and Immunology [email protected] Dr. Marshall Bowles, Assistant Professor at LUMCON, geomicrobiology, [email protected] *Course Synopsis: * This advanced biology course will integrate key aspects of oceanography, biology, and ecology of microorganisms through lectures, literature review, field and laboratory work. Students will practice science literacy through regular journal clubs and a final presentation. This course will cover recent developments and classic concepts in microbial ecology and will give an overview of the structure and function of microbial communities in the ocean. Among the topics covered will include: microbial phylogeny, structure, diversity, and function, culture dependent and independent molecular techniques, seagoing introduction to CTD and multicoring, and special focuses on the specific topics of nitrification, sulfate reduction, methanogenesis and the organisms that perform each. *Course Details:* 7/8/2018 - 7/28/2018 Monday – Friday for 3 weeks (15 class days) 3-credit *Journal Club:* Students are expected to participate in 2 journal clubs a week. Instructors will pre-select papers. On the first day of instruction, students will be presented with a grading rubric and expectations for journal club. Students will be assigned sections of a paper and led a discussion on papers that focus on various marine microbial techniques and concepts. Both classic and cutting-edge papers will be reviewed. Students will be graded on their ability to discuss and ask critical thinking questions from the papers. *Weekly Quizzes:* Each Friday students will take a weekly quiz that will assess their knowledge gained during lecture and lab. This quiz will consist of multiple choice, short answer and labeling of biochemical processes taught earlier in the week. Information from journal club will also be assessed on these quizzes. Participation in each of these quizzes is an absolute requirement of the course: No student can earn graduation credit for this course without participation in each exam: A student will automatically earn a failing grade in the course for failure to participate in any examination. *Final Presentation:* Students will isolate DNA from sediment core and send it off for sequencing. Students will then take their results from sequencing and create a class phylogenetic tree and create a presentation on the specific organism they infer to live in the sample environment. Each student will be assessed on their ability to present scientific information to the class and ability to research their particular microbe. A grading rubric for the presentation will be presented in the second week of the course. *Prerequisites:* C or better in at least 4 hours of general chemistry and 8 hours of science major biology courses. *Required Text and Other Materials: *This course will use selected readings from a variety paper and electronic sources. *Student Outcome Objectives: * To expose students to a wide variety of marine microbiology and molecular biology techniques as well as introduce the array of microorganisms in marine ecosystems. Upon completion of this course, the student will: - Describe metabolic, phylogenetic, and genomic diversity in marine microbes - Describe and practice traditional approaches to study marine microorganism and use the emergent molecular techniques to identify specific microbes - Demonstrate an understanding of the interactions between bacteria, archaea protists and viruses toward biogeochemical processes in marine systems - Increase scientific literacy by extracting information from journal articles using knowledge of organization and structure of scientific literature and evaluate or critique results and conclusions - Practice science communication and presentation skills *Registration Deadline:* Course will remain open until full enrollment is reached. The course is limited to 12 students and applications will be evaluated as they arrive. Applications can be found at lumcon.edu/univeristy. *Tuition:* $2700 USD. Tuition fee includes all lodging, meals, field activities, and course materials *Contact: *Murt Conover, Associate Director of Education and Outreach, [email protected], (985) 851-2860 -- Jennifer "Murt" Conover Associate Director of Education and Outreach & Aquarist [email protected] (985) 851-2860 ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>¸. ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>
