BCS 301: Syllabus
Fall 2024
Class meets Monday and Wednesday 11:50-12:40 in Meliora 206
Personnel
Instructor: Renee Miller
Office Hours TBD
Course Purpose and Goals
As one of the last courses you’re required to take as a Neuroscience major, senior seminar could fulfill a lot of goals. My goal is to send you out into the world as critical thinking, responsible citizens, who are able and willing to shape science opinion and policy. You will leave Rochester (or stay) as experts in a sea of people who haven’t had your training or exposure to scientific methods, data-driven decision making, and logical deductive reasoning when it comes to ethics and new technologies. I want to review these things with hands-on practice and show you the reward of interacting with the public through science. We’ll review publishing practices--the primary way scientists communicate with the public, general ethical considerations in scientific research, as well as specific ethical considerations related to new neurotechnologies in our classroom.
A second goal of mine is to fulfill your goals as budding neuroscientists—what did you want to learn about but never really got to in any of your courses or lab work? To give you that opportunity and build your confidence in public speaking and scientific presentation, you will choose a recent research article on a topic you’re interested in to present to the class (with my approval). Your presentations will be peer-reviewed in class so that you can receive abundant feedback and to spark discussion about the research. The presentation is done with a partner.
Finally, many (most?) of you are interested in improving the quality of life of people around you or in communities that lack resources found in others. We will spend some time discussing what is needed, where, and how it could be ‘delivered’. These in-class discussions will form the basis for you to write an individual proposal to fulfill some perceived need related (loosely) to neuroscience (could be healthcare, education, etc.). The goal of your proposal would be to obtain funding or other resources to complete the project, though you do not have to complete the project. However…it might turn into a great gap year experience! The proposal is limited to five pages and must include the background/scope of the problem, a consideration of multiple methods to address it, the proposed idea with justification and a description of the implementation plan and outcome expectations.
Assessment
- 30%-Attendance and participation are mandatory in this discussion-based class. Without your questions, comments, and unique perspectives, this is a far less interesting course. This includes your peer-reviewing responsibilities and questions during article presentations.
- 30%-Journal article presentation, according to the reviewer guidelines you will receive ahead of time.
- 10% Peer Review Article Critique (mood disorders)
- 10% Media Coverage Analysis (your choice)
- 20% Community Outreach Proposal
Academic Honesty
You agree to follow the University’s Academic Honesty Policy. For this class, that means you will produce your own written work. If you use an AI like ChatGPT for the purpose of “cleaning up” or “professionalizing” your written work, I require that you hand in the before and after versions of the assignment. There will be no penalty for using ChatGPT or similar for this purpose as long as it is declared. The unsanctioned use of such technologies or failure to cite them will be considered a violation of the policy for this course.