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Syllabus

Semester: Fall 2024
Meeting time: Wednesdays from 1:00 - 3:30 pm.
Location: 302 Cathedral of Learning
Instructor: Alex Maldonado, PhD (he/him/his)
Email: alex.maldonado@pitt.edu
Office hours: No routine office hours will be provided. Meetings can be scheduled on a case-by-case basis.

Catalog description

Topics in computational biology will be explored using primary literature. Students will present research articles orally, as well as complete a series of writing assignments that will culminate in the production of a literature review paper.

Prerequisites

You must be a Junior or Senior on the CBUAS-BS and CBUSCI-BS plan. You must also have completed BIOSC 1540 with a minimum grade of C and one of the following courses:

  • ENG 0102;
  • ENGCMP (0002 or 0006 or 0020 or 0200 or 0203 or 0205 or 0207 or 0208 or 0210 or 0212);
  • ENGFLM 0210;
  • FP (0003 or 0006).

Writing intensive

BIOSC 1630 will fulfill the requirement for a writing-intensive course in the Computational Biology major. The Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences Writing Institute defines this as

  • a course in which students engage with writing substantively throughout the term;
  • they write and revise throughout the term (not just at the end);
  • they write a total of 5750—6250 words;
  • they get feedback from their teacher and their peers.

Note

Five hundred words is approximately one page single-spaced and two pages double-spaced. You are expected to write 11--13 single-spaced pages or 23--25 double-spaced pages in this course.