As a small department in a medium-sized university, we place a very high priority on communication with colleagues outside UVM. That priority is realized in the Seminar Program, which brings outstanding biologists to the Biology Department. Each week we host a scientist who presents an afternoon seminar, and who meets informally with interested faculty and graduate students. Graduate students have primary responsibility for inviting and hosting prominent biologists for the Paul A. Moody Lecture. In recent years, these visits have been phenomenonally successful, allowing our students to interact with outstanding researchers from the international scientific community:
Other life science units on campus have seminar programs, and our students make full use of those opportunities. An information center about research programs and seminars in all the life sciences on campus is housed in Biology.
In addition to formal seminars , Biology hosts three informal programs. The Ecology/Evolution Journal Club and the Cell and Molecular Biology Journal Club meet weekly to discuss recently-published papers of particular importance. The Ecology/Evolution Lunch Club also meets weekly to provide graduate students an opportunity to discuss their research progress. In addition, several of the research labs hold weekly meetings for focused discussions of individual projects. Participation in these gatherings is an integral component of our graduate programs.
Last modified July 08 2009 09:33 AM
