A new Brown-MBL course, “Statistical Analysis and Graphics with R”, was offered at MBL in Woods Hole January 7-22, 2013 with Dr. Erika Sudderth of Brown University. The primary aim of this course was to learn methods in R for data manipulation, analysis, and graphical presentation. 20 students attend the intensive 12 day course.

Overview

Brown and MBL recently received a joint IGERT: Reverse Ecology grant from the National Science Foundation to support a program to train PhDs at the interface of computational biology, genomics and environmental science.

“Reverse Ecology” is the practice of inferring ecological and evolutionary information about organisms and communities from genes and gene sequences in their DNA.

The IGERT program emphasizes training students in the use of powerful, new genomic approaches that allow the identification of genetic bases of natural functional variation in the environment. Students learn to carry out every step of the process, from DNA extraction to computer analysis of sequence data.

Program Highlights

1. A year long immersion course focused at Long Term Ecological Research sites where students design an experiment and use high-throughput genomic and computational strategies to test hypotheses, with the goal of preparing and submitting a multi-authored journal article.

2. Jointly-mentored research rotations where students and faculty cross disciplinary boundaries.

3. Career training that integrates grant writing, public speaking, ethics, diversity and international.

There are currently three students in the IGERT program and at least three more will join the program in the fall.

Please click here for more information.

New Opportunity for Graduate Study: Human Well-being and the Environment in Africa

The Environmental Change Initiative at Brown University, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Moi University in Kenya, and Sokoine University in Tanzania offer graduate fellowships at Brown and Columbia in an exciting new cross-cutting natural and social science Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) project in Africa. The project will examine how agricultural interventions designed to increase crop yields in African Millennium Villages influence land-use patterns and the degradation or enhancement of soils, biodiversity and other ecosystem services and human wellbeing at both local and regional scales.

We seek PhD students who will pursue research in Africa in the fields of remote sensing, ecology, sociology or economics and who desire training that cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries and who want to apply their work to pressing problems of human welfare and the environment. Students will enroll in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geological Sciences, Sociology or Economics at Brown or the Departments of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Earth and Environmental Sciences or the PhD program in Sustainable Development at Columbia. PIRE students will work with teams of mentors at Brown, Columbia and MBL and collaborate with faculty partners at Moi and Sokoine Universities.

Downloads: (pdf format) Full Project Description 1-Page Flyer

Contacts: Contact faculty directly, or the people below for more information:

Sara Lizzo at Columbia University, 212-851-5833, sel2139 at columbia.edu

Martha Downs at Brown University 401-863-3493, Martha_Downs at brown.edu

Jill Holdren at the Marine Biological Laboratory 508-289-7715, jholdren at mbl.edu

Professors Anne Hart and  Christopher Moore of Brown University organized an eight day neuro practicum for Brown Neuroscience graduate students and NIH GPP first year students January 5-12, 2013 at the MBL featuring lectures by both Brown and MBL Faculty.

The course provided intensive training in multiple leading methods in Neuroscience research, including behavioral, genomic, pharmacological, optogenetic, microscopy and electrophysiological (intracellular in vitro and extracellular in vivo). Students used four different experimental preparations in models ranging from invertebrate to mammalian systems.  Key emphases of the course were hands-on experience and learning appropriate data analysis and handling for the several kinds of measurements taken.  Course participants also attended research seminars from other MBL faculty followed by discussion.