Seminars

As an important part of your professional education, Biology majors are expected to attend department seminars.  Note that attending seminars and writing abstracts summarizing them are required for graduation (see “Senior Capstone,” in the Major's Handbook).  Biology seminars are scientific presentations given by faculty or guest speakers.  See one of the professors (listed below) in charge of seminar scheduling for arrangements if you have suggestions for speakers. Once you have declared a Biology major, you will be notified by email of upcoming seminars on campus that are relevant for Biology majors, and if they count for your abstracts.  It is in your best interest to declare a Biology major before your junior year.

• Location: Seminars were previously held in Olin room 1, however for 2012-13 we hope to use the Tutt Science Lecture Hall, room 122. Please check the flyers posted in and around the Biology Office, 4th floor Olin Hall.  
• Time:  See the schedule below. If you enter after the start of the seminar, please try to enter as quietly as possible and avoid walking in front of the slide projector. Seminars are free and open to the public.
• Questions are encouraged at the end of each seminar.
• The list of seminars below is preliminary and will be updated as additional seminars are confirmed, so check back for updates.

If you have any questions regarding seminars, or if you have a suggestion for a possible speaker, contact Nancy Huang (Nancy.Huang@ColoradoCollege.edu), or Darrell Killian (Darrell.Killian@ColoradoCollege.edu). Emilie Gray (Emilie.Gray@ColoradoCollege.edu) is on sabbatical this year.

2012-13 Seminars

Note - All seminars after September 21 will be presented in Olin 1 unless otherwise posted.

Friday, Sept 21, 2012 (Block 1) at 12:15 p.m. in Tutt Science Lecture Hall 122
Joe Koke.  Colorado College, Department of Biology
DNA aptamer technology and Cancer Therapeutics:  the silver bullet? 

Thursday, October 11, 2012 (Block 2) at 3:30pm in Olin 1
Dr. Paul Lombroso, Child Study Center and Neurobiology and Psychiatry, Yale University
How we learn . . . and how we don't: One STEP at a time

Friday, November 9, 2012 (Block 3) at 12:15 p.m. Olin 1.
Dana M. Garcia, Department of Biology, Texas State University-San Marcos. 
Working on the Night Movements: cAMP as an extracellular signal in the retina.
Sound Track and words.
Thursday, November 15, 2012 (Block 3) at 3:30.  Olin 1.  

Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. (Block 4).  Olin 1
Joaquin Espinosa, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder
The War on Cancer in the XXI Century: A Report from the Trenches

Thursday, Jan. 31 at 3:30 p.m. (Block 5).  Olin 1
Sarah Kane, Colorado State University-Fort Collins, Program of Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neurosciences.
Astrocytes, Cell Signaling, and The Makings of a Graduate Student.  A first-hand perspective on the journey from undergrad to graduate school and the research that led there.  Abstract: Being a graduate student requires a creative mind, a passion for learning, and a dash of hardheadedness. Not meant for the faint of heart, graduate school will take you on a journey of peaks and valleys, where the excitement of a novel finding greatly outweighs the doubt after failed experiments.

Thursday, February 7 at 3:30 p.m. (Block 5), Olin 1
Allyson Hindle,UC Denver, School of Medicine, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Title: Weddell seals of Antarctica: a model species for field physiology.

Thursday, February 21 at 3:30 p.m.  (Block 6), Olin 1.
Martha Bhattacharya, Washington University, St. Louis, Department of Developmental Biology. 
Using Fruit Flies to Understand Neurodegenerative Disease

Thursday, March 28. (Block 7).  Bruce Byers, Independent Consultant.  
Title:  Integrating climate change and biodiversity conservation: perspectives from a practicing ecologist.

Thursday, April 4.  (Block 7)  Jessica Metcalf, U Colorado, Boulder. Olin 1, 3:30.  
Title:  The Journey of Cutthroat Trout in Colorado

Friday, April 12, BioDay –  David Epel, Professor Emeritus, Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. 1:00 p.m., Cornerstone Art Center, Screening Room.
Title:  Ecological developmental biology: integrating epigenetics, medicine, and evolution. 

Additional seminars?  Check back here frequently throughout the year.

Click here for 2013-14 Seminars
Click here for 2011-12 Seminars

Senior Capstone Requirement: Abstracts

Majors must complete attendance at five Biology seminars, and summarize each in an abstract, and submit each abstract to your advisor. You must declare the Biology major before attendance or abstracts can be counted toward these five.  You must be a junior or a senior before attendance and abstracts can be counted toward the five seminars & abstracts. 

NONE of these abstracts may come from student seminars although the keynote address from BioDay may be used.  Students from past years recommend you write abstracts within several days of the seminar.

STEPS FOR FINISHING THE SEMINARS & ABSTRACTS REQUIREMENT-

• Declare a Biology major.  Seminars and abstracts do not count until you have declared a Biology major.  The Registrar and the Department must have your declaration paperwork before you can turn in any abstracts.  If you are a declared major, you will receive e-mail notices of Biology seminars, which are also listed on the departmental web page under Seminars.  
• Attend seminars during your junior and senior years (after declaring the major).  See description below, explaining which seminars you can use. 
• Turn in abstracts summarizing the seminars no later than the first Monday of the block following the block in which the seminar occurred.

Students are advised to take notes during the seminars to aid in writing the abstracts

Acceptable Seminars

• Seminars sponsored by the Biology Department will be accepted
• Biology seminars at UCCS, CU, CSU, DU, CU medical school and at Penrose or Memorial Hospital will normally be accepted (if in doubt ask your academic advisor for approval before you attend the seminar).
• Selected seminars from other science departments at CC may be eligible but abstracts must include a paragraph that clearly explains the link of the topic to biology (again, if in doubt ask your academic advisor for approval before you attend the seminar).
• Student presentations, including presentations at Biology Day, are not acceptable seminars.

Format for Abstracts

• Abstracts are limited to one page and must be printed and not handwritten.
• Each abstract must include the following:  1) complete title of the seminar, 2) complete name and academic affiliation of the presenter, 3) date of the seminar, 4) a complete description (abstract) of the seminar where you summarize the major points of the presentation, and 5) the student's name with the honor code signed.  Each abstract must be clear, concise, well-written and complete to be accepted by your advisor and the department.  Click here to download a sample abstract.
• Abstracts must include the honor code.  The letter and spirit of the CC honor code must be strictly followed.  For example, each abstract must be your own original description, written by you in your own words, and you must have actually attended the seminar in person.