Achievement

This year we developed our third new graduate course to date, Algal Genomics for Environmental & Biofuels Research. Like the others we have developed, this course transcends traditional boundaries of existing graduate programs and attracts non-IGERT students as well as Trainees. Course content is designed to be sufficiently advanced for students in molecular biology and genetics, but also accessible to students from fields such as organismal biology, plant science, chemistry, etc. The course focuses on (i) the diversity and phylogenetic interrelationships of photosynthetic algal forms and (ii) instrumentation and informatics for study of genomic data. Course developer Prof. D. Bhattacharya integrates these two aspects by providing actual data sets from his group’s research on the organism Porphyridium, which students use to study questions they develop according to their own research interests. Students will be co-authors on publications emanating from these term projects.