Bioinformatics
|
by Stacey Kiser
|
 Lane
Community College hosted a regional workshop on using Bioinformatics and modeling in classrooms.
Stacey
Kiser, LCC Biology instructor, acted as local contact and
host. She took a six
month
unpaid sabbatical leave last Spring semester to live in Beloit,
Wisconsin and work for BioQUEST,
a biology education consortium based
at Beloit College.
BioQUEST runs workshops
as part
of a three year NSF grant. The BEDROCK project
brings interested faculty
together to explore the area of bioinformatics education.Stacey helped lead similar workshops at Johnson County
Community College in Kansas City, Indian State University, and Hope
College in Michigan.
LCC
faculty at the conference
Photo from BioQuest
web site
Bioinformatics is the area of DNA and
protein sequence
comparisons. It
merges knowledge from the areas of biology (evolutionary relationships,
molecular biology), computer science (database management, programming)
and mathematics (search algorithms, alignment algorithms).
Researchers
have been conducting experiments for several years in this area, but it
is just now getting into the curriculum. Four-year degree
programs are
emerging in bioinformatics. It is also becoming basic knowledge
for
most biology students as it works its way into textbooks.
The four day workshop ran Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 21-24, 2004.
continued.
|
|
|
Election Aftermath
|
by Dennis Gilbert
Bill Griffiths made the point in the last issue of
this publican that the election was the most important issue before us
and that we’d be better off voting for Kerry. Given that Bush
remained President, some further thinking and discussion is in
order. Here’s some starting points I suggest are worth talking
about:
I.
As several commentators have pointed out,
the blue (D) and red (R) state maps are misleading. If one looks
at a county-by-county tally, it is clear that the blue states are the
result of blue cities. Reports are that Kerry won every city with
a population over 500,000 and half the cities with populations between
50,000 and 500,000. He won among the highly educated, Jews, young
people, gays and lesbians, and people of color, all of whom tend to
live and choose to live in cities.
continued
|
Taxes for a 9 year-old
|
by Gary Mort
|
 A few weeks before the November 2 election I had a
conversation with my
nine year old son about taxes. What intially seemed like a simple
question eventually resulted in the letter below. Guy is a bright kid,
and interested in some strange things (we watched the four
presidential/vicepresidential debates together from start to finish),
but he is nine. He was able to understand what I've included below – I
wish more adults did.
Guy,
Someone
you like told you that if we elect John Kerry he would raise taxes, and
you wanted to know if it was true. I told you that it was and then you
wanted to know if that was bad. I know that seems like a simple
question, but really it isn't.
continued
|
|
|
ESL
Day
Program Arrives at the Main Campus
|
| by
Christine Seifert |
 You may have noticed 200 or
so new students on campus during
the day this term, speaking languages
other than English.
The English as a Second
Language program now has a permanent presence on the 30th
Ave. campus in Building 11. Both staff and students have been
warmly welcomed and have been taking advantage of the many services
available here.
The evening ESL program,
with approximately 190 students in classes from Pre-Beginning to High
Intermediate, continues alive and well at the Downtown Center. In
addition, multi-level outreach classes are offered in the evenings in
Springfield and Cottage Grove.
Since our presence is new
to "the hill," we wanted to take this opportunity to let you know a
little more about the ESL program and students. Over 40 nations
are represented among our students, with classes often including people
from 10-12 different countries. About 65% of our students are
Spanish speakers. The majority of students are permanent
residents in the U.S. However, we also serve 25-30 full-time
international students per term, as well as some people who are in the
U.S. on other types of visas.
Social and educational
backgrounds of ESL students are extremely diverse. We have
students with little or no education in their native language as well
as students with PhD's and professional backgrounds. continued |
Letters
|
Send letters to
griffithsb@lanecc.edu
|
Past Issues
|
|
