[Bioundgrd] Format for taking 7.18 (Topics in Experimental Biology)

[Janice Chang]

The following is a reminder of the requirements for taking 7.18 
(Topics in Experimental Biology) in Spring 2004 taught by Prof. Frank 
Gertler.


>To:	Biology Undergraduates
>From:	Chris Kaiser and the Undergraduate Committee
>Date:	May 15, 2003
>Re:	Format for taking 7.18 (Topics in Experimental Biology)
>
>The following information is important for Biology majors who intend 
>to carry out a UROP for project lab credit by taking course 7.18 
>Topics in Experimental Biology during the next academic year 
>2003-2004.
>
>7.18 has a seminar component to supplement work in the laboratory. 
>The students in 7.18 will meet regularly (4 hr/week) as a group with 
>a faculty instructor to provide training in both oral and written 
>communication.  Permission to register for 7.18 and responsibility 
>for the final grade will be determined by the faculty instructor 
>(not by faculty mentors) and a significant portion of the grade will 
>depend on attendance and participation of the seminar part of the 
>class.  The seminar class will begin meeting on the first week of 
>classes.  7.18 will be taught by Prof. Paul Matsudaira during the 
>fall 2003 term, and by Prof. Frank Gertler during the spring 2004 
>term.  
>
>7.18 has the same prerequisites (7.02, 7.03, 7.05) and the same 
>number of units (24) as the other three project labs offered by the 
>department.  The written assignments for 7.18 will be the same as 
>for other project labs and will include a 5-page literature review 
>as well as a 15 page research report.
>
>Students should only enroll in 7.18 if they plan to complete a paper 
>on their research by the last day of class in the semester they are 
>enrolled.  A student who is planning to work in a lab for several 
>semesters before writing a paper should plan to enroll in 7.URG. A 
>minimum of a one semester enrollment in 7.URG (or full time work 
>over the summer) in the proposed laboratory is required before a 
>student is eligible to enroll in 7.18.
>
>How to register for 7.18:
>
>Registration for 7.18 will be contingent on a letter from the 
>proposed faculty mentor.  The letter should be sent to the 
>Undergraduate Committee, c/o Janice Chang, Educational 
>Administrator, by the first day of classes in the semester you plan 
>to take 7.18.  If an appropriate letter is not received by Add Date 
>of that semester, your registration for 7.18 will be automatically 
>cancelled.
>
>The letter must state the following:
>-The mentor's willingness to sponsor the student for Project Lab 
>credit. The research mentor must be a member of the MIT faculty and 
>the research must be conducted on the MIT campus.
>-The mentor's expectation that the student will complete 24 units of 
>laboratory work that semester.
>-That the student already has experience working in the mentor's 
>laboratory.  This experience must be a 12-unit UROP project or 
>full-time work over the summer.  Lab work during the January IAP 
>will not fulfill this requirement, because IAP is too short for the 
>faculty member to reliably judge whether the student's project will 
>be appropriate for 7.18 credit.
>-The mentor's expectation that the student will turn in a 15 page 
>research report by the last day of class and the mentor's 
>willingness to grade and comment on the paper.
>
>Some additional points:
>-If you receive an Incomplete, the "I" will continue to remain as 
>part of the your record along with the grade that is later submitted 
>to complete the course. At the discretion of the faculty instructor 
>(not the student's lab mentor), the grade for a late paper turned in 
>after the semester deadline will be dropped by a letter grade.  Note 
>that a grade of "J" cannot be given for 7.18.