<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dear biology undergrads and faculty,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Please see below for information from Prof. Bob Horvitz on Biology Advanced Undergraduate Seminars for 2020-2021.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/current-students/subject-offerings/advanced-undergraduate-seminars/" class="">https://biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/current-students/subject-offerings/advanced-undergraduate-seminars/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">****</div><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">TO: MIT Biology Majors <font class="">and Faculty</font></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">FROM: H. Robert Horvitz, Professor of Biology</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">I am writing to inform you of an exciting offering from the Department of Biology for</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">the 2020-2021 academic year: a set of 11 very current seminar courses, 7.34x,</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Advanced Undergraduate Seminars. A complete listing of the courses, instructors, and</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">brief course descriptions is attached below. The topics are highly varied and encompass</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">areas of genetics, genomics, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, virology,</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">cell biology, cancer biology, parasitology, plant biology, chemical biology, evolutionary</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">biology, genome engineering, natural products, biopolymers, drug discovery and</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">delivery, and human disease.</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font class="">Students</font> can take any number of these courses. The courses, which generally</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">involve four to eight students, are for 6 units, graded pass/fail, and meet two hours each</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">week. The focus is on reading and discussing the primary research literature. Most</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">courses have one short written assignment and one oral presentation. Some include</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">field trips (possibly remote this year) to MIT research laboratories or to companies using</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">technologies discussed in the courses. The level of each course will be tailored to the</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">students who enroll. Because of the small size of these courses, we expect students not</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">to drop these courses once they have begun.</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">The scheduling of these courses is flexible. The day of the week and 2-hour</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">period of the day each course will meet will be determined jointly by the prospective</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">students and the instructors at the beginning of the semester.</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">These courses offer a number of special features: small class size, a high degree</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">of personal contact with the instructor(s), a focus on the primary research literature, and</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">an opportunity to discuss current problems in biology interactively. I believe these</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">courses greatly enrich an undergraduate’s experience. There are limited alternative</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">opportunities available to undergraduates to interact closely with instructors who are</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">experienced full-time researchers; to learn to read, understand, analyze and critique</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">primary research papers; and to engage in the type of stimulating discussions and</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">debates that characterize how science is really done. Most advanced MIT</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">undergraduates (generally juniors and seniors) have been sufficiently exposed to the</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">basics of biology to be able to read the primary literature and appreciate both</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">methodologies and cutting-edge advances. These courses have two goals: first, to</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">expose students to the kind of thinking that is central to contemporary biological</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">research; and second, to impart specific knowledge in particular areas of</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">biology. These courses are designed to be intellectually stimulating and also to provide</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">excellent preparation for a variety of future careers that require an understanding both of</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">what modern biology is and of how it is done. Students who have taken Advanced</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Undergraduate Seminars in the past (different specific courses, same general design)</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">have been enormously enthusiastic about their experiences.</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">I am writing before Registration Day<font class=""><font color="#ff2600" class=""> </font>to encourage students </font>to consider enrolling</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">in one of these seminar courses. Please feel free to contact any of the instructors to</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">learn more about their courses and in particular to discuss possible meeting days and</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">times if those listed are not possible for you.</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">To learn more about the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars to be offered</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">during the Fall 2020 semester, please check our website</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(4, 51, 255);"><div class="" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="https://biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/current-students/subject-offerings/advanced-undergraduate-seminars/" class="">https://biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/current-students/subject-offerings/advanced-undergraduate-seminars/</a></div><div class="" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>