Advanced Evolution

Instructed by

Mike Angilletta

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

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Newsweek (October 5, 1998, p. 7)

Competition is getting stiffer because the increase in graduates is outpacing the demand.

Too many biologists spoil the broth.

Science (1998, p. 1584)

The percentage of life scientists with faculty appointments 9 to 10 years after receiving their Ph.D.s has plummeted.

Life Scientists in an Untenurable Position

11 February 2000

Dear Dr. Angilletta,

We’d very much like to have you visit ISU and give a seminar, preferably before March 1. I tried your phone #, but became hopelessly lost in the voice mail system. If you could give me a call before 5:30 PM at (812) 237-2396 it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

George S. Bakken

“I decided to go to graduate school in ecology at the University of Pennsylvania. Starting grad school was exhilarating and intense. Unfortunately, my feeling of excitement of academia was short-lived.”

Rick Karban, Univ. of California at Davis

Not everyone thrived in Penn’s Environment.

Stiling (1999), Ecology, Prentice Hall

Learning through departmental seminars…I was told that my questions were naïve and reflected poorly on the department.”

Career advice from Penn Profs:“Grad school continued to be an ordeal. I was told I was not a thinker and that I would not have a chance at getting an academic job.”

Part of an Academic Family…“At one point, I left graduate school [for a week] without telling anyone at the university…. I returned, fortified by the encouragement and support of being home, to find that no one had even noticed I had been gone.”

Rick Karban, Univ. of California at Davis

Lima took some arm-twisting.

Steven L. Lima, Ph.D.

Benefits of a Broader Training

• Interact meaningfully with other researchers

• Be an informed reviewer of manuscripts and proposals

• Identify collaborators that can enhance your research program

• Place your work in a broader, more integrative context

You need to publish in the best possible journals.

“I have already recommended that each Associate Editor use the “Editorial Rejection” option more frequently. Manuscripts that reflect solid science, but are not of broad interest, will often be dealt with in this way.”

“Papers appropriate for Evolution must not only present exciting scientific results, but the data and analyses must be placed in a broad evolutionary context. Papers that focus on a single taxon are not appropriate…”

Rick Harrison, Editor of Evolution (2004)

Publication in top journals is becoming harder.

Goals of the Course

• Become theoretically-informed empiricists

• Learn strengths and weaknesses of modern empirical approaches

• Develop a world view of evolutionary biology

Design of the Course

Theoretical Component

• Population Genetics• Quantitative Genetics • Optimization

Empirical Component

• Measuring Selection • Phenotypic/Genetic

Engineering• Selection Experiments• Comparative Methods

Where is this course from?

• Key books (Rice 2004; Lynch & Walsch 1998; Alexander 1996; Roff 2002)

• Primary literature (referenced as we go)

• My twisted imagination (let’s not even go there)