Comparative Physiology Bio 566 Fall 2009
Instructor: Duncan J. Irschick
Department of Biology
221 Morrill South
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: 413 545 1696
E-mail: irschick "at" bio.umass.edu
Office: 205 Morrill Science Center (Go through lab into office)
Office hours: Tuesdays 11-12 (or to make an appointment) o
Announcement: The first exam will be held Thursday, October 8th during normal class hours and in the normal classroom. This is a change from what was originally on the syllabus based on feedback from the class.
Announcement: On Oct. 1, we will be having "half" of a lecture, and spending the remainder watching the video "An Inconvenient truth", which is on Climate change. We will finish the video on Tuesday, October 6th, and discuss the issue of climate change in the context of physiology. Also, with the remainder of the time on Tuesday, we will also review the material for the exam on Thursday. See you all there!
Extra credit assignment:
Due: By day of final (TBA), and BEFORE (not during, not after) the final. No exceptions!
Length: 2-3 double-spaced typed pages-can be e-mailed to me (irshcick@bio.umass.edu), or turned in by hand.
Assignment: Pick a peer-reviewed scientific article (i.e., Not newsweek, National Geographic; legitimate examples would be Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, etc.) on a topic of your choice that relates to the course (e.g., diving physiology in marine mammals, etc.). Use Web of Science to find an article, and then write a brief synopsis of the article and then evaluate it (did you like it, was it a good piece of work, etc.?)
Potential points: up to 10, points awarded based on quality of writing and the paper itself
Announcement: Exam 2 will be on Thursday, Nov. 12
Announcement: The FINAL for our class will be at 8 AM (sorry! its not up to me! in Morrill 340 (the same classroom that we always use), and on 12/15 (Tuesday). As a reminder, the final is NOT cumulative, but will cover the material from the second exam until the last lecture.
For October 6th, we will watch the remainder of our movie on climate change ("An inconvenient truth"), and follow it with a brief discussion. We will use the remainder of the class reviewing material for the exam on Thursday
October 13, 2009; Because of Monday's Holiday, today is a "Monday Class Day" and therefore there will be no class today; we will resume our class on Thursday, October 15th at the normal time.