Course:

BIO 119 

Often Awesome: The Science and Humanity of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Professor:

Craig Jude  

CRN:

90054

Schedule:

 Tue  Thurs    7:30 PM - 9:30 PM Reem Kayden Center 111/112

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

This course, intended for students not planning to major in biology, will examine the science behind Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), following the journey of one man from diagnosis through death, as told through his own words and those of his loved ones. The class will delve into the science behind his journey, examining topics that come to light along the way including genetic testing, opportunistic infections, and examining the nervous system.  The laboratory portion of the class will examine topics relating to ALS, its causes and complications including, nerve conduction, DNA profiling, and adaptive technologies. Students will read primary and secondary literature, as well as works about ALS for general audiences. Students will produce writing including response journals and summaries of current research, as well as develop questions about what future research will be beneficial towards treatments and possible cures.

 

Course:

BIO 136  Natural History of the Hudson Valley

Professor:

Patricia Kaishian 

CRN:

90943

Schedule:

 Tue       2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 114

 Tue  Thurs    10:20 AM - 11:40 AM Reem Kayden Center 115

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

                  This course is appropriate for non-majors and interested biology majors, but does not fulfill 100-level curricular requirements for majors. It is designed to train students in the field, lab and museum skills of natural historians and to teach them how to identify plants and animals of the Hudson Valley, both in the wild and in the lab. The lecture portion of the class will introduce students to concepts in systematics and taxonomy, the history of natural history, the value of natural history to science, and how citizen science is exploiting crowdsourcing of natural history data.  The laboratory portion of the course will focus on teaching students how to identify plants, birds, amphibians, aquatic and terrestrial insects, and fish. Students will learn how to use binoculars, dissecting scopes, traps, nets and other tools to visualize or capture specimens, and use field guides, phone apps, dichotomous keys and other resources to identify them. Field trips will take place on campus, in the Tivoli Bays Wildlife Management Area, and at several off campus locations throughout the Hudson Valley where students will practice their identification skills, collect specimens, and interact with naturalists from outside the Bard community.  Students will build and curate their own insect and plant collections that will be added to Bard’s existing collections, use natural history information to answer some basic questions about the distribution and abundance of a species they choose, and as a final project they will create a natural history guide for a focal taxonomic group of their choice.

 

Course:

BIO 137 Microbes and Me: How microscopic organisms shape our lives

Professor:

Robert Todd  

CRN:

90913

Schedule:

Mon  Wed     2:00 PM - 3:20 PM Reem Kayden Center 103

Fri   2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 114/115

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

This course, designed for students not planning on majoring in biology, will explore the close, often complex, relationships between humans and microscopic organisms. With a primary focus on viruses, bacteria, and fungi, we will use readings and discussions to delve into topics of microbial diversity, public health, and infectious disease. During the laboratory portion of this course, we will dive deeper into understanding how we as a species use microbes to our own benefit, and what happens when normally benign microbes become pathogenic and start to cause disease by using both laboratory experiments and publicly available datasets generated from cutting-edge research.

 

Course:

BIO 158  Case Studies in Medical Biology

Professor:

Brooke Jude  

CRN:

90055

Schedule:

Mon  Wed     2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 111/112

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Global Public Health

To fully understand the major systems of the human body, in the context of both healthy and diseased state, one must examine aspects of the biological, chemical, and physical properties contributing to their function. This course will utilize MCAT style questions and case studies as a platform to learn scientific theories and principles in basic biology, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, physiology and other sub disciplines. In laboratories, students will gain hands on experience in testing these principles.  Additionally, students will practice evaluating evidence, interpreting and presenting data, and various ways of science communication. This course is intended as both the entry to the biology major as well as an introductory biology course for students intending on applying to medical/dental/veterinary school post-graduation. Prerequisites: students must have taken high school biology and chemistry, and passed the Mathematics Placement exam. This course is only open to incoming first year students.

 

Course:

BIO 168  Experimental Ecology of Lakes, Rivers, and Shores

Professor:

Kat Anderson

CRN:

90914

Schedule:

 Mon       2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 114/115

 Tue  Thurs    8:30 AM - 9:50 AM Reem Kayden Center 114/115

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

                 Freshwater and marine ecosystems are essential sources of food, resources, and cultural heritage the world over. Up to 80% of global oxygen is produced in the ocean and while freshwater ecosystems account for less than 0.8 % of the worlds surface area, they are home to an estimated 8% of all described species. This course, appropriate for potential biology majors, focuses on the mechanisms that determine and maintain the diversity and productivity of these important ecosystems. Students will use careful observation, critical review of the primary literature, and the conducting of original research to understand how life in an aquatic environment differs from life on land. Field work will focus on building strategies for exploring a new ecosystem, while lab work will focus on essential techniques for conducting experiments in aquatic systems. In addition to gaining a better understanding of how aquatic ecosystems work, student will be introduced to the fundamentals for experimental design and hypothesis testing, and data interpretation, as well as multiple methods of traditional and non-traditional scientific communication.

 

Course:

BIO 201  Genetics and Evolution

Professor:

Michael Tibbetts  

CRN:

90057

Schedule:

Mon  Wed     8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Reem Kayden Center 111/112

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Global Public Health; Mind, Brain, Behavior

This course is an introduction to the mechanisms of inheritance and the generation of diversity in eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.  This course takes a modern approach to the study of genetics in which classical ideas about genotype, phenotype and inheritance are integrated into the modern molecular and genomic understanding of the processes involved in the generation of diversity.  In addition to discussions of the molecular mechanisms involved in DNA replication,  recombination, the generation and repair of mutations, and the relationship between genotype and phenotype, special consideration is given to our understanding of the processes involved in generating population-level variation in complex traits and how this understanding can help us identify the myriad genetic and non-genetic factors influencing these traits.  The laboratory consists of several projects focused on genetics of distinct model systems to address one or more topics in the course.  Prerequisite: One biology course at the 140 level or higher.

 

Course:

BIO 202  Ecology and Evolution

Professor:

Felicia Keesing  

CRN:

90058

Schedule:

  Wed  Fri   8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Reem Kayden Center 114/115

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Environmental & Urban Studies

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies

This core course for biology majors is an introduction to the general principles of ecology and evolution that, with genetics, form the core of biological understanding. In addition to studying foundational ideas in both ecology and evolution, we will explore modern topics at the boundary between these two areas. We will consider, for example, how genetic variation among individual organisms can influence ecological interactions, and how these interactions can influence fitness. We will focus on a mechanistic understanding of processes, using model-building to inform that understanding.  Prerequisite: Successful completion of a course in biology numbered 140 or above.

 

Course:

BIO 208  BioSeminar

Professor:

Felicia Keesing  

CRN:

90059

Schedule:

   Thurs    12:10 PM - 1:10 PM Reem Kayden Center 103

Distributional Area:

 

Class cap:

55

Credits:

1

This course will provide students with broad exposure to biology through the biology visiting speaker seminar series. Students will hear about the wide-ranging research interests of invited biologists and have opportunities to interact informally with them. The course is graded Pass/Fail and students are responsible for short follow-up assignments for at least 80% of the talks. Recommended for all biology majors and other interested students.

 

Course:

BIO 244  Biostatistics

Professor:

Kat Anderson

CRN:

90060

Schedule:

 Tue  Thurs    2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 115

Distributional Area:

MC Mathematics and Computing

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Environmental & Urban Studies; Global Public Health; Mathematics

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies; Global Public Health; Mathematics.

This course introduces students to the statistical methods biologists use to describe and compare data. Students will learn methods that are appropriate for different types of data. Topics covered include elementary probability and statistics, characteristics of frequency distributions, hypothesis testing, contingency tests, correlation and regression analysis, different ways to compare means, nonparametric tests, and an introduction to multivariate tests. This course is intended for sophomore and junior biology majors, although it is open to students of all years.  One objective of the course is to provide biology majors the statistical background they need to analyze data for their own senior research; biology students should take this course before their senior year, if possible. Notice, though, that the topics in this course are applicable to many advanced courses. Prerequisite: passing score on part I of the Mathematics Placement and at least one introductory biology course.

 

Course:

BIO 308  Plant Ecology

Professor:

Cathy Collins  

CRN:

90529

Schedule:

  Wed     9:20 AM - 11:40 AM Reem Kayden Center 102

Fri   8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Reem Kayden Center 111/112

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

                In this course we will study plant populations and communities through the lens of key species interactions such as herbivory, completion, pollination, plant-fungal mutualisms, and plant-pathogen interactions.  We will also explore the ways in which species diversity is generated and maintained at local and landscape spatial scales, and how plant community ecology theory can be applied to habitat restoration.  Course discussions and writing assignments will focus on primary literature. The laboratory component of this course may include excursions to different plant communities in the Hudson Valley, allowing students to become familiar with local flora, as well as conduct observational studies and experiments. We will also make use of publicly available long-term data to address questions at landscape (or global) scales and develop skills for analyzing large data sets. Prerequisite: upper college standing in Biology, completion of biostatistics helpful, but not required.

 

Course:

BIO 324  Physiology

Professor:

Michael Tibbetts

CRN:

90061

Schedule:

Mon    Fri   12:10 PM - 1:30 PM Reem Kayden Center 111/112

Fri   2:00 PM - 6:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 111/112

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

How do animals work? What is inside them, and more importantly, how do all those veins, membranes and tissues make it possible for animals to move, feel, and reproduce? What are the reasons for all those things to be there, and how are they different in different animals? Why do you have a spleen, and how can a crane breathe through a neck that long? Do fishes need to drink, and do they urinate? These are the kinds of questions we will tackle in this course, comparing human physiology to that of other animals; discussing how lungs, eyes, kidneys and intestines work, and putting it all in an evolutionary perspective.  Prerequisite: Upper college standing in Biology.

 

Course:

BIO 400  Seminar TBA

Professor:

Patricia Kaishian  

CRN:

90061

Schedule:

Thurs 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 200

Distributional Area:

 

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

The most recent estimate of extant fungal species is 2.2 to 3.8 million. Of the millions of fungi estimated to exist, only ~138,000 species have been described. With only ~ 6% of the lower estimation being known to science, the tasks of discovery and description that remain are tremendous. Unlike many plant and animal groups, fungi do not broadly enjoy the benefits of being well studied and clearly understood. However, we do know that fungi fill in an extremely broad and diverse range of niches in our ecosystems all over the world. As parasites, commensalists, mutualists, saprotrophs, pathogens, food sources, and more, fungi are ecosystem engineers. In this seminar we will explore the vast ecological roles carried out by fungi in the burgeoning field of fungal ecology. Students will become familiar with foundational primary literature in fungal ecology. Students will synthesize concepts presented in the literature by leading their peers through an in-depth discussion each week. Because mycology is often overlooked or misunderstood both within scientific and public spaces, students will also explore in depth a topic related to the critical roles of fungi in the environment, culminating in a presentation suitable for a public audience. Prerequisite: upper college standing in Biology 

 

Course:

BIO 432 

Calderwood Seminar: Distilling Biotechnology

Professor:

Brooke Jude  

CRN:

90063

Schedule:

 Tue      2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Reem Kayden Center 200

Distributional Area:

 

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Tissue and organ generation, CRISPR genome editing, creation of synthetic genomes and use of modified viruses to cure deadly disease are all current biotechnological advances that only a few decades ago would have read as science fiction. These technologies developed in the lab are quickly being envisioned and applied to treating wicked problems, those that have no current universal solution. However, with these technologies come a flip side to the coin, a need for caution and care in designing experiments, evaluating data, and even execution of the technology. Deep ethical concerns exist for these technologies. This course will examine these 21st century realities, with a critical eye to addressing the boundaries of ethics, and how these boundaries may be tested by biotechnological innovations. Students will be required to read current and cutting edge primary literature, as well as learn to gather evidence for both sides of these arguments, using the scientific literature as the base. The focus of the class will be on student generated writing, peer review and editing, and clear communication with others. This course will require weekly meeting of assignment deadlines, and constructive peer editing in the production of many writing pieces pitched at a variety of audiences. Prerequisites: junior or senior standing, moderation into biology, or permission of the instructor. The Calderwood Seminars are intended primarily for junior and senior majors in the field (or in some cases affiliated fields--check with the faculty member if you are unsure). They are designed to help students think about how to translate their discipline (e.g. art history, biology, literature) to non-specialists through different forms of public writing. Depending on the major, public writing might include policy papers, book reviews, blog posts, exhibition catalog entries, grant reports, or editorials. Students will be expected to write or edit one short piece of writing per week.