Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Malcolm McCallum]

If the AMA gets their way, then it will not be long until gross
anatomy is pushed out of the medical schools and made a requirement
for admission so they can spend more time on clinicals an
clinical-based courses in med school.  THis move, which is very
likely, is going to place an even higher premium on electives for
pre-med students.

So, whether it would be useful or not, unless the AMA decides to
require it, even fewer pre-meds will avoid ecology in the future,
regardless of efforts to attract them into courses.

My personal experience from teaching in the professional schools a few years.

On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 1:29 PM, K. Greg Murray  wrote:
> Good ideas.  I think there are lots of reasons that ecology needs to be in
> the background of pre-health professions students, and many of these reasons
> are similar to or the same as those promoted by Randolf  Nesse and others
> about the centrality of evolution to medical training.  Indeed, the many
> publications on “evolutionary” or “Darwinian” medicine are good starting
> points, since much of this field focuses on evolutionary arms races between
> humans and our pathogens.  For years I introduced my course on ecology and
> evolutionary biology (the third of 3 intro or core courses for all students
> intending to take any of our upper-level courses) with examples where
> ecology and evolutionary biology were important for understanding virtually
> all facets of human experience in addition to the things they usually think
> of as evolution and ecology.  I included examples from history, using some
> examples from Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel.”  For human health, I
> used some of the usual suspects like antibiotic resistance and Lyme disease,
> but also some lesser-known examples like the most promising and effective
> approaches to malaria being low-tech ones like window screens and bed nets,
> that stomach ulcers (once thought to be a “lifestyle” disease) were actually
> caused by a bacterium, the intriguing connections between atherosclerosis
> and bacterial infection, between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and
> bacterial infection, the fact that most of epidemiology is really ecology,
> and on and on.  Several of these examples were cases in which medical
> science would have made more rapid advances had its practitioners been
> better trained in ecology and evolutionary biology.  I even threw in a
> damning quote or two (“The future of infectious diseases will be very dull”
> Dr. McFarlane Burnet, 1972 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine).  I
> also pointed out that the MCAT contained sections on population biology, and
> that these were not covered in any of the other intro courses.  It was still
> true that lots of our pre-professional students would prefer to focus their
> coursework on physiology, genetics, and cell and molecular biology, but I
> think most of them would have agreed that what we call ecology and
> evolutionary biology are very important to the study of human biology and
> the of management of human health.
> Our current curriculum has only two semesters of intro courses, but
> together, E & E still comprise fully one-third of the course material.  And
> our majors still have a distribution requirement to take at least one upper-
> level course that deals with biology at the population (or above) level of
> organization.  We do not experience much grousing about these requirements
> at all, to my knowledge.



-- 
Malcolm L. McCallum, PHD, REP
Link to online CV and portfolio :
https://www.visualcv.com/malcolm-mc-callum?access=18A9RYkDGxO

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Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[K. Greg Murray]

Good ideas.  I think there are lots of reasons that ecology needs to be in 
the background of pre-health professions students, and many of these reasons 
are similar to or the same as those promoted by Randolf  Nesse and others 
about the centrality of evolution to medical training.  Indeed, the many 
publications on “evolutionary” or “Darwinian” medicine are good starting 
points, since much of this field focuses on evolutionary arms races between 
humans and our pathogens.  For years I introduced my course on ecology and 
evolutionary biology (the third of 3 intro or core courses for all students 
intending to take any of our upper-level courses) with examples where 
ecology and evolutionary biology were important for understanding virtually 
all facets of human experience in addition to the things they usually think 
of as evolution and ecology.  I included examples from history, using some 
examples from Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel.”  For human health, I 
used some of the usual suspects like antibiotic resistance and Lyme disease, 
but also some lesser-known examples like the most promising and effective 
approaches to malaria being low-tech ones like window screens and bed nets, 
that stomach ulcers (once thought to be a “lifestyle” disease) were actually 
caused by a bacterium, the intriguing connections between atherosclerosis 
and bacterial infection, between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and 
bacterial infection, the fact that most of epidemiology is really ecology, 
and on and on.  Several of these examples were cases in which medical 
science would have made more rapid advances had its practitioners been 
better trained in ecology and evolutionary biology.  I even threw in a 
damning quote or two (“The future of infectious diseases will be very dull” 
Dr. McFarlane Burnet, 1972 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine).  I 
also pointed out that the MCAT contained sections on population biology, and 
that these were not covered in any of the other intro courses.  It was still 
true that lots of our pre-professional students would prefer to focus their 
coursework on physiology, genetics, and cell and molecular biology, but I 
think most of them would have agreed that what we call ecology and 
evolutionary biology are very important to the study of human biology and 
the of management of human health.
Our current curriculum has only two semesters of intro courses, but 
together, E & E still comprise fully one-third of the course material.  And 
our majors still have a distribution requirement to take at least one upper-
level course that deals with biology at the population (or above) level of 
organization.  We do not experience much grousing about these requirements 
at all, to my knowledge.

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Erick Lundgren]

I always thought that middle school science classes should be ecologically
based - have kids learn the names of their neighborhood trees, then discuss
gravity in regards to transpirational pull. At least that way a generation
of students have the opportunity to see the world not as undifferentiated
green, but as distinct living things.

Similarly, I have noticed that many ecology classes, particularly at my
current institution, deemphasize the hands-on field component to emphasize
quantitative methods and topical lectures. Touching, seeing, and learning
the names of living things in organismal-based field classes can be such a
powerful wondrous experience (beyond the imagination of many!), which
surely recruits students who would have no interest otherwise. Furthermore,
I think replacing these classes with population modeling, R and GIS classes
leaves ecology undergraduates ill-prepared to be field technicians and
woefully ignorant of actual biodiversity.

Best,
Erick

On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 12:16 PM Jonathan Giacomini 
wrote:

> We are all welcome to our own opinions and I guess my experiences with
> high school history guide my choice. However, while you bring up a great
> example of US history, I still think a subject, such as ecology, that
> provides an understanding of life that is applicable to every human being
> across the globe, greatly trumps a subject that applies solely to a single
> society. That is not to say that the latter subject need not be a
> significant part of the curriculum, but rather that ecology may be more
> important.  While I do believe that it's important to understand how the
> government works and the history behind why, I find my ever growing
> knowledge of the interactions between living creatures, their environments
> and their peers, to be far more valuable.
>
> Best,
> Jonathan
>
> On Tuesday, February 2, 2016, David Mellor  wrote:
>
>> I like your gumption Jonathan, but I think your point that outdated and
>> superficial history curricula are a reason to toss it aside in favor of
>> more eco/evo is way off base! Even though I think that many core concepts
>> in eco/evo are really necessary for an MD, or for any reasonably informed
>> citizen, I think that history trumps that more often than not. As a example
>> (US focused, my apologies), there is virtually no understanding of how the
>> lessons of the fall of the Roman republic and the rise of the empire shaped
>> the framing of the US constitution. This was the basis of the education
>> system for those who wrote the constitution, and it shows up in the
>> electoral college, the roles and responsibilities of the executive and
>> legislative branches, and in the requirements for office holders. This
>> ignorance is painfully obvious in the social and traditional media during
>> any reasonably sized political news story: major pieces of legislation,
>> supreme court decisions, and of course, elections.
>>
>> There is so much that a reasonable person *should* know, but it is very
>> hard to translate that into a reasonable sized curriculum that helps every
>> student grow into a healthy and conscientious adult.
>>
>> Best,
>> David
>>
>> David Mellor 
>> Center for Open Science 
>>
> @EvoMellor 
>> mobile: (703) 967-4512
>>
>
>> On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 10:06 AM, Jonathan Giacomini <
>> jonjgiacom...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I've never understood why ecology isn't a core requirement during high
>>> school (9 - 12th grade). To be honest, I think history should be swapped
>>> with ecology. That's not to say that history isn't an extremely important
>>> topic, it most certainly is important. However, in my opinion, much of the
>>> standard history curriculum is out dated and too narrowly focused, often on
>>> false representations.
>>>
>>> Regardless of which classes should be swapped, perhaps it's time that we
>>> start the conversation of ecology as a core high school requirement.
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>> J
>>>
>>>
>>> On Monday, February 1, 2016, Kay Shenoy 
>>> wrote:
>>>
 Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
 undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
 focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
 “unimportant” for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
 MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
 enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
 have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

>>>
>>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Loretta Fisher]

Three ideas:

1.  Demonstrate ecological relationships happening WITHIN human bodies
(intestinal microbiome, etc.)
2.  Disabuse the students of the notion that humans and human biology are
somehow separate from ecological communities as a whole
3.  Give students an unusual ecology education experience by partnering
with community organizations.  For example, in our state, we have ecology
students at Evergreen College working together with local prisons through
the Sustainability in Prisons  project
to raise endangered species or carry out vermiculture inside the prisons.
Many students going into the medical field might find it meaningful to know
both more about ecology and about the cycles of poverty, violence, and
incarceration that may affect the people they one day serve, be it through
medical care or pharmaceutical research.


On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Beck, Christopher  wrote:

> Back in 2012, several colleagues and I published a letter in Science on
> adding ecology to the pre-med curriculum.  (Beck, et al. 2012. Add Ecology
> to the Pre-Medical Curriculum. Science: 1301. Science: 1301.
> http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.335.6074.1301-a.)  As a part of that
> article, we developed an ecology-based competency for pre-med students and
> provided some resources.  You can check it out at
> http://www.esa.org/esa/education-and-diversity/issues/ecology-in-the-pre-medical-curriculum/
> .
>
> Also, with the change in the MCAT in 2015, there is an increased emphasis
> on statistical literacy, something that could be taught in the context of
> ecology.  Students who have taken my ecology course and then the MCATs have
> told me that learning basic statistical literacy and data interpretation
> skills in my ecology course helped them on the MCATs.
>
> Chris
>
> Dr. Christopher Beck
> Department of Biology
> Emory University
> Atlanta, GA 30322
>
> christopher.b...@emory.edu
>
> 404-712-9012
> FAX 404-727-2880
>
>
>
> 
>
> This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
> the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
> information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
> recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
> or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly
> prohibited.
>
> If you have received this message in error, please contact
> the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the
> original message (including attachments).
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Beck, Christopher]

Back in 2012, several colleagues and I published a letter in Science on adding 
ecology to the pre-med curriculum.  (Beck, et al. 2012. Add Ecology to the 
Pre-Medical Curriculum. Science: 1301. Science: 1301. 
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.335.6074.1301-a.)  As a part of that article, 
we developed an ecology-based competency for pre-med students and provided some 
resources.  You can check it out at 
http://www.esa.org/esa/education-and-diversity/issues/ecology-in-the-pre-medical-curriculum/.

Also, with the change in the MCAT in 2015, there is an increased emphasis on 
statistical literacy, something that could be taught in the context of ecology. 
 Students who have taken my ecology course and then the MCATs have told me that 
learning basic statistical literacy and data interpretation skills in my 
ecology course helped them on the MCATs.

Chris

Dr. Christopher Beck
Department of Biology
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

christopher.b...@emory.edu

404-712-9012
FAX 404-727-2880





This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly
prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please contact
the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the
original message (including attachments).

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Judith S. Weis]

Too bad Ben Carson's medical school didn't re


> There are quite a few books out there entitled "Evolutionary Medicine" and
> variations on that theme.  I used one of them in our senior seminar
> course.  There is an incredible wealth of material that has been well
> researched in these books.  There are also several lengthy essays on why
> medical schools really want their incoming students to have a background
> in evolution.  The medical schools feel it is vital to an understanding of
> everything from how our bodies react to pathogens to conditions such as
> metabolic syndrome and why it is considered to be an evolutionary
> consequence of how our bodies responded long ago to  starvation and why we
> now see obesity, diabetes etc.  The medical schools feel they are not
> qualified to really teach the basic evolution, and there is really no time
> in the medical curriculum.  It has to happen sooner.  The students in my
> classes were amazed at the links between evolution and medicine.  I
> learned an amazing amount about the subject as a result of moderating the
> senior seminar course.
>
> Liane
>
> *
> Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Biology
> Saint Xavier University
> Department of Biological Sciences
> 3700 West 103rd Street
> Chicago, IL  60655
>
> Ph:773-298-3514
> Fax:  773-298-3536
> coch...@sxu.edu
> http://faculty.sxu.edu/dlc1
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
> [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Juan Alvez
> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 6:36 AM
> To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course
>
> Hi Russel and Ecolog,
>
> There are a few books that talk about these issues.
> Here is one of my favorites:
> http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Grass-Cancer-Andre-Voisin/dp/0911311645
>
> - -
> Juan P. Alvez, PhD
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
> [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Russell L. Burke
> Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 9:18 PM
> To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course
>
> Don't you all think it is high time we had a text book for a course like
> this called why pre-health students should study ecology and evolution?
> We could cover every major topic taught in intro ecology and evolution
> courses using medical examples--human microbiome, evolution of resistance,
> biodiversity and human public health...why hasn't anyone written this
> book?
>
> Lyme disease and malaria would be great case studies for such a book
>
> RBurke
>
> -Original Message-----
> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
> [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Moran
> Sent: Monday, February 1, 2016 8:03 PM
> To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course
>
> If the question is "how do we get more students to see ecology as an
> interesting career path" rather than "how to we get premeds to take
> ecology classes", the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses
> of ecology and interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
> In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to
> say they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related
> career they are aware of.
>
> One thing we're trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest
> lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic
> material, we get the chance to tell students a little about our research
> and have the option of talking about how they can get involved in
> research, other classes they might consider if they like the
> ecology/evolution section of bio 1, or career paths.  It is too early yet
> to see if it is having much effect in recruiting students to the EEB track
> or environmental sciences major, but I know I got some good questions from
> students about options for including plant-related stuff in their
> educational and career trajectory.
>
> Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or
> sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology
> outside of a clinical setting.
>
> Emily Moran
> UC Merced
>
>>
>>
>> On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs,
>> news on behalf of Kay Shenoy" > kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>>> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in
>>> the MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do
>>> not have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Jonathan Giacomini]

We are all welcome to our own opinions and I guess my experiences with high
school history guide my choice. However, while you bring up a great example
of US history, I still think a subject, such as ecology, that provides an
understanding of life that is applicable to every human being across the
globe, greatly trumps a subject that applies solely to a single society.
That is not to say that the latter subject need not be a significant part
of the curriculum, but rather that ecology may be more important.  While I
do believe that it's important to understand how the government works and
the history behind why, I find my ever growing knowledge of the
interactions between living creatures, their environments and their peers,
to be far more valuable.

Best,
Jonathan

On Tuesday, February 2, 2016, David Mellor  wrote:

> I like your gumption Jonathan, but I think your point that outdated and
> superficial history curricula are a reason to toss it aside in favor of
> more eco/evo is way off base! Even though I think that many core concepts
> in eco/evo are really necessary for an MD, or for any reasonably informed
> citizen, I think that history trumps that more often than not. As a example
> (US focused, my apologies), there is virtually no understanding of how the
> lessons of the fall of the Roman republic and the rise of the empire shaped
> the framing of the US constitution. This was the basis of the education
> system for those who wrote the constitution, and it shows up in the
> electoral college, the roles and responsibilities of the executive and
> legislative branches, and in the requirements for office holders. This
> ignorance is painfully obvious in the social and traditional media during
> any reasonably sized political news story: major pieces of legislation,
> supreme court decisions, and of course, elections.
>
> There is so much that a reasonable person *should* know, but it is very
> hard to translate that into a reasonable sized curriculum that helps every
> student grow into a healthy and conscientious adult.
>
> Best,
> David
>
> David Mellor 
> Center for Open Science 
> @EvoMellor 
> mobile: (703) 967-4512
>
> On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 10:06 AM, Jonathan Giacomini <
> jonjgiacom...@gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> I've never understood why ecology isn't a core requirement during high
>> school (9 - 12th grade). To be honest, I think history should be swapped
>> with ecology. That's not to say that history isn't an extremely important
>> topic, it most certainly is important. However, in my opinion, much of the
>> standard history curriculum is out dated and too narrowly focused, often on
>> false representations.
>>
>> Regardless of which classes should be swapped, perhaps it's time that we
>> start the conversation of ecology as a core high school requirement.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> J
>>
>>
>> On Monday, February 1, 2016, Kay Shenoy > > wrote:
>>
>>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>>> “unimportant” for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
>>> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
>>> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>>>
>>
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Juan Alvez]

I understand that. In general, not many health professionals relate "health" to 
"nutrition" and/or "nutrition" to "soil health" (soil life, ecosystem 
processes, minerals mediated by microorganisms, etc. versus highly soluble 
synthetic macronutrients).

You can try Jerry Brunetti's conference videos (e.g. 'food as medicine' 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hho6wXewyo8 or, 'understanding how nature 
works' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiiGWMzq0Sw). 

Students will enjoy them and discover new relationships between soils, plants, 
animals and humans and their health in a systemic way.

Best,
-J


- - 
Juan P. Alvez, PhD
Center for Sustainable Agriculture - UVM Extension
Pasture Technical Coordinator
23 Mansfield Avenue, Burlington VT, 05401-5933
Ph: 802-656-6116 | Fax: 802-656-8874 | jal...@uvm.edu

Join the VT Pasture Network listserv or find pasture-related info & events. 
Learn about ongoing pasture issues at the VPN Blog. Watch pasture videos on 
YouTube

UVM Extension helps individuals and communities put research-based knowledge to 
work

"To break a paradigm, think big, start small and act fast!"
www.juanalvez.weebly.com 

-Original Message-
From: Russell L. Burke [mailto:russell.l.bu...@hofstra.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 9:45 AM
To: Juan Alvez 
Subject: RE: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

A step in the right direction, but wouldn't come close to doing the job, at 
least for my students.  To start with, "soil" in the title is a snore for most 
pre-health students.  Anything to do with agriculture is a boring, unimaginable 
world to today's urban/suburban kids raised on computers.

-Original Message-
From: Juan Alvez [mailto:jal...@uvm.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 7:36 AM
To: Russell L. Burke; ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: RE: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

Hi Russel and Ecolog,

There are a few books that talk about these issues.
Here is one of my favorites:
http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Grass-Cancer-Andre-Voisin/dp/0911311645

- - 
Juan P. Alvez, PhD


-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Russell L. Burke
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 9:18 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

Don't you all think it is high time we had a text book for a course like this 
called why pre-health students should study ecology and evolution?  We could 
cover every major topic taught in intro ecology and evolution courses using 
medical examples--human microbiome, evolution of resistance, biodiversity and 
human public health...why hasn't anyone written this book?

Lyme disease and malaria would be great case studies for such a book

RBurke

-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Moran
Sent: Monday, February 1, 2016 8:03 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

If the question is "how do we get more students to see ecology as an 
interesting career path" rather than "how to we get premeds to take ecology 
classes", the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of ecology and 
interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to say 
they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related career they 
are aware of.  

One thing we're trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest 
lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic material, we 
get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have the option 
of talking about how they can get involved in research, other classes they 
might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section of bio 1, or career 
paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much effect in recruiting 
students to the EEB track or environmental sciences major, but I know I got 
some good questions from students about options for including plant-related 
stuff in their educational and career trajectory.

Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or 
sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology 
outside of a clinical setting.

Emily Moran
UC Merced

> 
> 
> On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, 
> news on behalf of Kay Shenoy"  kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology 
>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly 
>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology 
>> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in 
>> the MCAT exams

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Cochran-Stafira, D. Liane]

There are quite a few books out there entitled "Evolutionary Medicine" and 
variations on that theme.  I used one of them in our senior seminar course.  
There is an incredible wealth of material that has been well researched in 
these books.  There are also several lengthy essays on why medical schools 
really want their incoming students to have a background in evolution.  The 
medical schools feel it is vital to an understanding of everything from how our 
bodies react to pathogens to conditions such as metabolic syndrome and why it 
is considered to be an evolutionary consequence of how our bodies responded 
long ago to  starvation and why we now see obesity, diabetes etc.  The medical 
schools feel they are not qualified to really teach the basic evolution, and 
there is really no time in the medical curriculum.  It has to happen sooner.  
The students in my classes were amazed at the links between evolution and 
medicine.  I learned an amazing amount about the subject as a result of 
moderating the senior seminar course.  

Liane

*
Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Saint Xavier University
Department of Biological Sciences
3700 West 103rd Street
Chicago, IL  60655

Ph:773-298-3514
Fax:  773-298-3536
coch...@sxu.edu
http://faculty.sxu.edu/dlc1

-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Juan Alvez
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 6:36 AM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

Hi Russel and Ecolog,

There are a few books that talk about these issues.
Here is one of my favorites:
http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Grass-Cancer-Andre-Voisin/dp/0911311645

- - 
Juan P. Alvez, PhD


-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Russell L. Burke
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 9:18 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

Don't you all think it is high time we had a text book for a course like this 
called why pre-health students should study ecology and evolution?  We could 
cover every major topic taught in intro ecology and evolution courses using 
medical examples--human microbiome, evolution of resistance, biodiversity and 
human public health...why hasn't anyone written this book?

Lyme disease and malaria would be great case studies for such a book

RBurke

-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Moran
Sent: Monday, February 1, 2016 8:03 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

If the question is "how do we get more students to see ecology as an 
interesting career path" rather than "how to we get premeds to take ecology 
classes", the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of ecology and 
interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to say 
they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related career they 
are aware of.  

One thing we're trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest 
lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic material, we 
get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have the option 
of talking about how they can get involved in research, other classes they 
might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section of bio 1, or career 
paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much effect in recruiting 
students to the EEB track or environmental sciences major, but I know I got 
some good questions from students about options for including plant-related 
stuff in their educational and career trajectory.

Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or 
sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology 
outside of a clinical setting.

Emily Moran
UC Merced

> 
> 
> On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, 
> news on behalf of Kay Shenoy"  kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology 
>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly 
>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology 
>> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in 
>> the MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase 
>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do 
>> not have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Malcolm McCallum]

a freshman environmental science course is taught in almost every
community college in the united states is pretty close to waht Tam
stage is describing.  ONe textbook most use is Miller.  However, most
of the time, EVS is taught as a poor man's ecology course more than it
is a true interdisciplinary course crossing natural, physical and
social sciences.

On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 7:46 AM, Judith S. Weis
 wrote:
> Courses like that Ecology for citizens - including pollution,
> sustainablility etc. have been around for decades for non-majors - called
> environmental science or similar.
>
>
>
>> I've been thinking for a long time now that we need an "Ecology for
>> Citizens" type class in high school and for non-science majors in college.
>> It could replace the current biology topics that people forget after the
>> test is done and never use again unless it comes up in a trivia game.  It
>> would cover the basics, such as the Three Laws of Ecology, overview of
>> various cycles, the difference between weather and climate, different
>> pollution types, sustainability. etc.  The intent is offer students what
>> they need to know in order to realize how human actions impact the
>> environment, regardless of career.  I think something akin to this could
>> be
>> tailored to the biology students in question.  It they have an
>> understanding of topics like pollution vectors, bio-magnification, how
>> biodiversity loss leads to disease outbreaks, etc.  they might be a in a
>> better position to advise on policy and recognize oppurtunites to prevent
>> problems in there communities.
>> 
>> This
>> email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast.
>> www.avast.com
>> 
>> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 7:03 PM, Emily Moran  wrote:
>>
>>> If the question is “how do we get more students to see ecology as an
>>> interesting career path” rather than “how to we get premeds to take
>>> ecology
>>> classes”, the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of
>>> ecology
>>> and interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
>>> In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend
>>> to
>>> say they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related
>>> career they are aware of.
>>>
>>> One thing we’re trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give
>>> guest
>>> lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic
>>> material,
>>> we get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have
>>> the
>>> option of talking about how they can get involved in research, other
>>> classes they might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section
>>> of
>>> bio 1, or career paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much
>>> effect in recruiting students to the EEB track or environmental sciences
>>> major, but I know I got some good questions from students about options
>>> for
>>> including plant-related stuff in their educational and career
>>> trajectory.
>>>
>>> Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman
>>> or
>>> sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in
>>> biology
>>> outside of a clinical setting.
>>>
>>> Emily Moran
>>> UC Merced
>>>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs,
>>> news
>>> on
>>> > behalf of Kay Shenoy" >> > kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>>> >> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>>> >> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>>> >> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in
>>> the
>>> >> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>>> >> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do
>>> not
>>> >> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Tamathy Stage
>> Master's Candidate
>> Antioch University New England
>>



-- 
Malcolm L. McCallum, PHD, REP
Link to online CV and portfolio :
https://www.visualcv.com/malcolm-mc-callum?access=18A9RYkDGxO

 “Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich
array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a
many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature
lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share
as Americans.”
-President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of
1973 into law.

"Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" -
Allan Nation

1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea"  W.S. Gilbert
1990's:  Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss,
 

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Jonathan Giacomini]

I've never understood why ecology isn't a core requirement during high
school (9 - 12th grade). To be honest, I think history should be swapped
with ecology. That's not to say that history isn't an extremely important
topic, it most certainly is important. However, in my opinion, much of the
standard history curriculum is out dated and too narrowly focused, often on
false representations.

Regardless of which classes should be swapped, perhaps it's time that we
start the conversation of ecology as a core high school requirement.

Best wishes,
J

On Monday, February 1, 2016, Kay Shenoy  wrote:

> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
> “unimportant” for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Juan Alvez]

Hi Russel and Ecolog,

There are a few books that talk about these issues.
Here is one of my favorites:
http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Grass-Cancer-Andre-Voisin/dp/0911311645

- - 
Juan P. Alvez, PhD


-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Russell L. Burke
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 9:18 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

Don't you all think it is high time we had a text book for a course like this 
called why pre-health students should study ecology and evolution?  We could 
cover every major topic taught in intro ecology and evolution courses using 
medical examples--human microbiome, evolution of resistance, biodiversity and 
human public health...why hasn't anyone written this book?

Lyme disease and malaria would be great case studies for such a book

RBurke

-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Moran
Sent: Monday, February 1, 2016 8:03 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

If the question is "how do we get more students to see ecology as an 
interesting career path" rather than "how to we get premeds to take ecology 
classes", the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of ecology and 
interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to say 
they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related career they 
are aware of.  

One thing we're trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest 
lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic material, we 
get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have the option 
of talking about how they can get involved in research, other classes they 
might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section of bio 1, or career 
paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much effect in recruiting 
students to the EEB track or environmental sciences major, but I know I got 
some good questions from students about options for including plant-related 
stuff in their educational and career trajectory.

Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or 
sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology 
outside of a clinical setting.

Emily Moran
UC Merced

> 
> 
> On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, 
> news on behalf of Kay Shenoy"  kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology 
>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly 
>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology 
>> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in 
>> the MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase 
>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do 
>> not have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Judith S. Weis]

Courses like that Ecology for citizens - including pollution,
sustainablility etc. have been around for decades for non-majors - called
environmental science or similar.



> I've been thinking for a long time now that we need an "Ecology for
> Citizens" type class in high school and for non-science majors in college.
> It could replace the current biology topics that people forget after the
> test is done and never use again unless it comes up in a trivia game.  It
> would cover the basics, such as the Three Laws of Ecology, overview of
> various cycles, the difference between weather and climate, different
> pollution types, sustainability. etc.  The intent is offer students what
> they need to know in order to realize how human actions impact the
> environment, regardless of career.  I think something akin to this could
> be
> tailored to the biology students in question.  It they have an
> understanding of topics like pollution vectors, bio-magnification, how
> biodiversity loss leads to disease outbreaks, etc.  they might be a in a
> better position to advise on policy and recognize oppurtunites to prevent
> problems in there communities.
> 
> This
> email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast.
> www.avast.com
> 
> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
>
> On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 7:03 PM, Emily Moran  wrote:
>
>> If the question is “how do we get more students to see ecology as an
>> interesting career path” rather than “how to we get premeds to take
>> ecology
>> classes”, the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of
>> ecology
>> and interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
>> In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend
>> to
>> say they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related
>> career they are aware of.
>>
>> One thing we’re trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give
>> guest
>> lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic
>> material,
>> we get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have
>> the
>> option of talking about how they can get involved in research, other
>> classes they might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section
>> of
>> bio 1, or career paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much
>> effect in recruiting students to the EEB track or environmental sciences
>> major, but I know I got some good questions from students about options
>> for
>> including plant-related stuff in their educational and career
>> trajectory.
>>
>> Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman
>> or
>> sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in
>> biology
>> outside of a clinical setting.
>>
>> Emily Moran
>> UC Merced
>>
>> >
>> >
>> > On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs,
>> news
>> on
>> > behalf of Kay Shenoy" > > kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>> >> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>> >> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>> >> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in
>> the
>> >> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>> >> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do
>> not
>> >> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Tamathy Stage
> Master's Candidate
> Antioch University New England
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Brian Czech]

Tell them, as a bonus, an ecology course is all about the economy of
nature and that anybody who masters it resides in "the mecca of
economics," as Alfred Marshall referred to "biology" (really meaning
ecology but the term wasn't coined yet). So they get two courses for one
and become well-prepared to add value to the sustainability dialog.

---
Brian Czech, Ph.D., President
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
www.steadystate.org [1] 

On 2016-02-01 11:23am, Kay Shenoy wrote:

> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology 
> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly 
> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology 
> "unimportant" for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the 
> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase 
> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not 
> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
 

Links:
--
[1] http://www.steadystate.org

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Tam Stage]

I've been thinking for a long time now that we need an "Ecology for
Citizens" type class in high school and for non-science majors in college.
It could replace the current biology topics that people forget after the
test is done and never use again unless it comes up in a trivia game.  It
would cover the basics, such as the Three Laws of Ecology, overview of
various cycles, the difference between weather and climate, different
pollution types, sustainability. etc.  The intent is offer students what
they need to know in order to realize how human actions impact the
environment, regardless of career.  I think something akin to this could be
tailored to the biology students in question.  It they have an
understanding of topics like pollution vectors, bio-magnification, how
biodiversity loss leads to disease outbreaks, etc.  they might be a in a
better position to advise on policy and recognize oppurtunites to prevent
problems in there communities.

This
email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast.
www.avast.com

<#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 7:03 PM, Emily Moran  wrote:

> If the question is “how do we get more students to see ecology as an
> interesting career path” rather than “how to we get premeds to take ecology
> classes”, the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of ecology
> and interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
> In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to
> say they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related
> career they are aware of.
>
> One thing we’re trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest
> lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic material,
> we get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have the
> option of talking about how they can get involved in research, other
> classes they might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section of
> bio 1, or career paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much
> effect in recruiting students to the EEB track or environmental sciences
> major, but I know I got some good questions from students about options for
> including plant-related stuff in their educational and career trajectory.
>
> Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or
> sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology
> outside of a clinical setting.
>
> Emily Moran
> UC Merced
>
> >
> >
> > On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
> on
> > behalf of Kay Shenoy"  > kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
> >> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
> >> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
> >> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
> >> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
> >> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
> >> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>



-- 
Tamathy Stage
Master's Candidate
Antioch University New England

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Russell L. Burke]

Don't you all think it is high time we had a text book for a course like this 
called why pre-health students should study ecology and evolution?  We could 
cover every major topic taught in intro ecology and evolution courses using 
medical examples--human microbiome, evolution of resistance, biodiversity and 
human public health...why hasn't anyone written this book?

Lyme disease and malaria would be great case studies for such a book

RBurke

-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Moran
Sent: Monday, February 1, 2016 8:03 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

If the question is "how do we get more students to see ecology as an 
interesting career path" rather than "how to we get premeds to take ecology 
classes", the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of ecology and 
interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to say 
they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related career they 
are aware of.  

One thing we're trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest 
lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic material, we 
get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have the option 
of talking about how they can get involved in research, other classes they 
might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section of bio 1, or career 
paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much effect in recruiting 
students to the EEB track or environmental sciences major, but I know I got 
some good questions from students about options for including plant-related 
stuff in their educational and career trajectory.

Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or 
sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology 
outside of a clinical setting.

Emily Moran
UC Merced

> 
> 
> On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, 
> news on behalf of Kay Shenoy"  kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology 
>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly 
>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology 
>> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in 
>> the MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase 
>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do 
>> not have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Malcolm McCallum]

I will play contrary here.
maybe you should ask if these people need or desire to take this class.
If not, why and how can you make the class attractive to them?
Maybe, like has been done with math in many schools, you need to
design a course on ecology that focuses on pre-med students and the
interface between the environment and human health.

I sent you a bit more info in a private email.

Malcolm

On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 7:03 PM, Emily Moran  wrote:
> If the question is “how do we get more students to see ecology as an 
> interesting career path” rather than “how to we get premeds to take ecology 
> classes”, the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of ecology 
> and interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
> In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to say 
> they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related career 
> they are aware of.
>
> One thing we’re trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest 
> lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic material, 
> we get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have the 
> option of talking about how they can get involved in research, other classes 
> they might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section of bio 1, or 
> career paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much effect in 
> recruiting students to the EEB track or environmental sciences major, but I 
> know I got some good questions from students about options for including 
> plant-related stuff in their educational and career trajectory.
>
> Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or 
> sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology 
> outside of a clinical setting.
>
> Emily Moran
> UC Merced
>
>>
>>
>> On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on
>> behalf of Kay Shenoy" > kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>>> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
>>> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
>>> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!



-- 
Malcolm L. McCallum, PHD, REP
Link to online CV and portfolio :
https://www.visualcv.com/malcolm-mc-callum?access=18A9RYkDGxO

 “Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich
array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a
many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature
lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share
as Americans.”
-President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of
1973 into law.

"Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" -
Allan Nation

1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea"  W.S. Gilbert
1990's:  Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss,
and pollution.
2000:  Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction
  MAY help restore populations.
2022: Soylent Green is People!

The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi)
Wealth w/o work
Pleasure w/o conscience
Knowledge w/o character
Commerce w/o morality
Science w/o humanity
Worship w/o sacrifice
Politics w/o principle

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review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.  If you are not
the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and
destroy all copies of the original message.

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Emily Moran]

If the question is “how do we get more students to see ecology as an 
interesting career path” rather than “how to we get premeds to take ecology 
classes”, the key seems to be to expose them to interesting uses of ecology and 
interesting ecological careers as early as possible.
In most schools, the kids who come in wanting to major in biology tend to say 
they are pre-med, in part because that is the only biology-related career they 
are aware of.  

One thing we’re trying at UCM is to have ladder-rank faculty give guest 
lectures in the intro bio class - along with delivering the basic material, we 
get the chance to tell students a little about our research and have the option 
of talking about how they can get involved in research, other classes they 
might consider if they like the ecology/evolution section of bio 1, or career 
paths.  It is too early yet to see if it is having much effect in recruiting 
students to the EEB track or environmental sciences major, but I know I got 
some good questions from students about options for including plant-related 
stuff in their educational and career trajectory.

Involving students in research and hands on projects in their freshman or 
sophomore year can also be a great way to stoke their interest in biology 
outside of a clinical setting.

Emily Moran
UC Merced

> 
> 
> On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on
> behalf of Kay Shenoy"  kay.yellowt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>> ³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
>> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
>> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Derek Woller]

Having taught an Ecology lab that was the companion to an Ecology lecture
for majors and non-majors, I can tell you that the two most engaging things
we did were:

1) undertook multiple field trips to learn about different habitats - I
have found that most undergrads have rarely been on such trips and really
enjoy them

2) engaged in a field project that gathered data and used basic statistics
(useful for all science fields) to reach a goal - they may not have enjoyed
every step of the process, but the majority appreciated applying what they
were learning to a real world issue, something lacking in most classes
(and, usually, I do understand why)x

Regards,

Derek A. Woller

Ph.D. Candidate in Entomology, and Lab Manager
The Song Laboratory of Insect Systematics and Evolution
http://schistocerca.org/SongLab/
Dept. of Entomology, Texas A&M University


On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 10:57 AM, David Mellor 
wrote:

> Hello Kay,
>
> My first job out of grad school (ecology and evolution) was advising
> biology majors at a large public university. The vast majority were pre-med
> or otherwise health focused. They had a requirement to take at least one
> ecology course, and for those that were focused on health careers, this was
> often their only ecology course. However, several of the ecology courses
> did have a health-related course title (parasites, medicine, disease,
> physiology, etc) and were often extremely popular among bio majors (some
> would say too popular given the ratio of seats to students in many public
> universities). This could suggest either a slight refocus of an existing
> course, or perhaps a new ecology course that could very easily teach many
> core ecology concepts with health related examples. I think many people on
> this list serv would agree that knowledge of some core concepts in ecology
> and evolution would be very useful among healthcare professionals, so I
> think this is a reasonable action to consider. Good luck!
>
> Best,
> David
>
> David Mellor 
> Center for Open Science 
> @EvoMellor 
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:23 AM, Kay Shenoy 
> wrote:
>
>> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>> “unimportant” for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
>> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
>> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>>
>
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[David Inouye]

I tried to address your point in an editorial I wrote in Science a 
few months ago, mentioning


"Early ecologists who thought about principles governing plant and 
animal communities never imagined that their ideas would provide the 
foundation for understanding the human microbiome, affecting our 
nutrition, immune system, and even psychological state. The new field 
of synthetic ecology, in which ecologists and medical professionals 
design beneficial microbial communities, has its origins in 
century-old ecological field studies. These examples foretell how the 
roles of ecologists and the applications of ecological principles are 
likely to change in the next century, and why medical students and 
practitioners need to understand ecology."


Gut, mouth, and skin microbiomes and their ecology are relevant to 
health professions. Population biology and demography are important 
components too, and understanding how lead, mercury, environmental 
estrogens, and endocrine disruptors get into the environment and then 
affect consumers (and patients) is highly relevant.


http://science.sciencemag.org/content/349/6248/565.full

You wrote:
Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
"unimportant" for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Ryan McEwan]

One idea for engaging students who are more medically oriented is to
leverage current events.  If you can flex enough in your class, you can
"ride the waves" of current events to good effect in most semesters.  Sadly
enough, there are enough ongoing crises with Ecological underpinnings that
material is plentiful.

As an example, the current global concern over Zika virus provides a real
natural bridge for medically oriented students into Ecology.  Zika is
vectored by mosquitoes, which have an aquatic life phase, so the disease
dynamics are linked to basic ecology: population dynamics, symbiosis,
terrestrial-aquatic linkages and subsidies, land-use change, and really a
whole suite of aquatic biology issues related to macroinvertebrate
populations.  Start a lecture with Zika and end up talking about aquatic
food webs, or even River Continuum Concept, etc.

Good luck,
Ryan




*​Ryan W. McEwan, PhD*

*Associate Professor of Ecology*

*Environmental Biology Program Director*



*Department of Biology University of Dayton 300 College Park, Dayton,
OH  45469-2320 *



*Lab: mcewanlab.org
Email:  ryan.mce...@udayton.edu
*

*Office phone: 1.937.229.2558**Office Location:  Science Center 223D*





On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:23 AM, Kay Shenoy 
wrote:

> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
> “unimportant” for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Cochran-Stafira, D. Liane]

Hi Kay,
We have requirements for several categories of courses.  Two options for 
Genetics, several for organismal, for example, and 4 courses that meet the 
population, evolution requirement.  Ecology is one of the latter.  The students 
have a choice of Ecology, Evolution, Natural History of the Great Lakes Region 
or a course called Interactions in the Environment.  The last two are 
majors/non-majors courses with majors taking the required lab component.  This 
way, all students end up taking some sort of E&E course.  BTW, I teach all but 
the Interactions course.  That is taught by our Animal Behavioral person.  It 
seems to be a strategy that is working.  In fact, I typically have students who 
took Ecology or Natural History deciding to take another of the courses in E&E. 
 Often, these are the very pre-health students who thought E&E was so useless - 
great attitude change!

Liane

*
Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Saint Xavier University
Department of Biological Sciences
3700 West 103rd Street
Chicago, IL  60655

Ph:773-298-3514
Fax:  773-298-3536
coch...@sxu.edu
http://faculty.sxu.edu/dlc1

-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news 
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Kay Shenoy
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 10:24 AM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology undergraduates? 
We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly focused on health-care 
fields; many students consider Ecology "unimportant" for their future careers, 
and it is not addressed in the MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How 
does one increase enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools 
that do not have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[David Mellor]

Hello Kay,

My first job out of grad school (ecology and evolution) was advising
biology majors at a large public university. The vast majority were pre-med
or otherwise health focused. They had a requirement to take at least one
ecology course, and for those that were focused on health careers, this was
often their only ecology course. However, several of the ecology courses
did have a health-related course title (parasites, medicine, disease,
physiology, etc) and were often extremely popular among bio majors (some
would say too popular given the ratio of seats to students in many public
universities). This could suggest either a slight refocus of an existing
course, or perhaps a new ecology course that could very easily teach many
core ecology concepts with health related examples. I think many people on
this list serv would agree that knowledge of some core concepts in ecology
and evolution would be very useful among healthcare professionals, so I
think this is a reasonable action to consider. Good luck!

Best,
David

David Mellor 
Center for Open Science 
@EvoMellor 


On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:23 AM, Kay Shenoy 
wrote:

> Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
> undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
> focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
> “unimportant” for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
> MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
> enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
> have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Steve Young]

Create an innovative and highly engaging course that combines the two
disciplines and then get support from an existing degree program at your
institution. Once it is approved by the curriculum committee, promote it
widely. After a couple of years, make it available online through your
institution¹s distance degree program. Although not as easy as it sounds,
most institutions are very interested in courses that are
cross-disciplinary and target a broader audience by relating the
fundamentals to topics of increasing societal interest. Just need to think
outside-the-box. 

Steve





On 2/1/16, 11:23 AM, "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on
behalf of Kay Shenoy"  wrote:

>Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
>undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
>focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
>³unimportant² for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
>MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
>enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
>have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!

[ECOLOG-L] promoting Ecology course

[Kay Shenoy]

Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology 
undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly 
focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology 
“unimportant” for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the 
MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase 
enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not 
have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!