Introduction to economic issues and the tools that economists use to study those issues: supply and demand, decision making by consumers and firms, market failures, economic output and growth, fiscal and monetary policy in relation to unemployment and inflation, and international economics. Topics include both the study of markets and the need for public policy/government action to address market failures.

Basic principles of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and potential uses in biological studies. Each student selects a project and learns the fundamentals of specimen preparation, operation of the TEM, and image acquisition. Preparation, assessment and interpretation of the resulting electron micrographs culminate in an individual portfolio.

In this course, students learn to view and understand animal behavior within an evolutionary context. The mechanistic side of behavior is investigated and students explore how behavioral traits originate and evolve over time. Students will integrate their knowledge of how organisms work with an appreciation of why they work the way they do. At the end of the course, students will understand basic concepts in behavioral biology and know many of the experiments that have facilitated our understanding of this field.

This course is a rigorous introduction to the study of protein molecules and their role as catalysts in the cell. Topics include general principles of protein folding, protein structure-function correlation, enzyme kinetics and mechanism, carbohydrate and lipid biochemistry, and metabolic pathways (catabolic and anabolic) and their interaction and cross-regulation. Biological transformation of energy is considered in light of the principles of thermodynamics.

Evolutionary history of the terrestrial arthropods (body plans, relationships, fossil history); physiology (the implications of cuticle, thermoregulation, flight); reproduction (life cycles, metamorphosis, mating systems); behavior (communication, sociality); ecology (parasitism, mutualism, predator-prey and plant-insect interactions). Each student will collect, mount, and identify specimens for her own collection.