Chemical Ecology courses

The teaching goals of the Chemical Ecology Program integrate topics including synthetic and natural products chemistry, instrumental analysis, spectroscopy, biochemistry, plant genetics, ecology, genomics, computational biology, and mathematical modeling.

There are numerous courses in multiple departments that support the chemical ecology program and they are available to all students interested in chemical ecology. Five focused, targeted courses are available to support the training goals of the center. ·

Emerging Themes in Chemical Ecology

A one year course that examines primary literature on interactions between chemistry, ecology, and the environment (e.g., effects of plant secondary compounds and environmental contaminants on ecosystem function). This course should be available to advanced undergraduates and forms the basis of integrating research with education. ·

Design and Analysis in Ecology

This graduate course is taught by chemical ecology faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno and in Brazil. The course helps train students in statistical methods and other quantitative approaches used by ecologists to design research programs, to analyze complex data, and to generate hypotheses via simulation and analytical models. ·

Chemical Analysis, Natural Products Chemistry, and Basic Biosynthesis

This course covers the basics of analytical chemistry of natural samples including a survey of the quantitative instrumentation, chromatography, and developing quantitative methods. Proper use of an internal standard, determination of absolute concentration using a standard curve, and basic instrumental troubleshooting are described. ·

Tropical Lepidoptera

This course has been taught every other year by University of Nevada, Reno chemical ecology faculty and a group of leading Neotropical Lepidopterists in Arizona, Peru, and Brazil and has included students of all academic backgrounds – from undergraduates to university faculty, representing the US, Europe, and nine Latin American countries. This course is integrated with the chemical ecology program. ·

Computational Tools for Genomic Biology

This course is appropriate for early phase graduate students at University of Nevada, Reno and focuses on introducing students to essential computational and programming skills for modern big data science. The course examines genomics and metabolomic data and analyses with the aim of increasing computational effectiveness of participants.