3.0

Average Course Rating

The goal of this course is to guide a student through the process of designing a scientific project as well as evaluating others’ projects (i.e., providing “peer review”). Course requirements include attending lectures describing successive stage of project design; providing iterative oral and written reports on your own research proposal/project; as well providing feedback on your colleagues’ (i.e., your fellow students in the class) projects and proposals. A final research proposal to be presented in the format of a NIH-style grant application will provide evidence that a student is capable of designing an advanced research project by identifying a significant biomedical problem, developing innovative approaches to solve it, and then designing a practical, relevant, and implementable research plan. This course is often taken in conjunction with – and based upon – an independent project being done by the student in a research laboratory but students without a laboratory position are welcome to take this course based on a hypothetical research project of their choosing.