The goal of this course is to present advanced material to graduate
students on newly emerging topics in Marine Sciences. The course 
will cover topics in the biological, physical, or chemical marine
sciences.  Each time the course is taught, the instructor will 
choose a topic of special interest, focusing on subject matter 
not covered by regular graduate courses in the Department of 
Marine Sciences.  Examples of topics that might be covered in 
this course include: application of stable isotopes in marine 
sciences; molecular microbial ecology; groundwater influences on 
coastal marine ecosystems; exobiology; and coastal ecosystem 
modeling.  The  course will introduce graduate students to 
current literature, and involve them in discussions and class 
presentations.  Grading scheme will be at the discretion of the 
instructor but will typically involve class presentations, exams,
or term papers.

The course content will vary each time the course is offered, and 
will be dependent on the instructor and topic.  An outline is 
presented below for a topic similar to what might be covered in 
this course, and is given here as a example of possible course 
content.  In this example, the 1 credit-hour course is presented 
as a series of lectures interleaved with student presentations 
and discussions.  The instructor presents 7 one-hour lectures and 
organizes 8 one-hour discussion periods in which students present 
and discuss recent research papers on specific topics.

Example Advanced Topic Outline:  Methods in Molecular Microbial 
Ecology

I.  History of Molecular Microbial Ecology (2 lectures)
a.  Discovering 5S rRNA
b.  Early studies with 5S rRNA
c.  Discovering 16S rRNA
d.  16S rRNA catalog approaches
e.  16S rRNA sequencing approaches

II.  Ribosomal RNA-based methods in Molecular Microbial Ecology (2 lectures)
a.  16S rRNA clone libraries
b.  T-RFLP analysis
c.  DGGE analysis

III.  Other Molecular Methods in Microbial Ecology (1 lecture)
a.  whole genome hybridization
b.  reverse sample genome probing
c.  functional gene analysis

IV.  Influence of Molecular Methods on Microbial Ecology (2 lectures)
a.  inventory activity in natural ecosystems
b.  linking biogeochemical function to community structure
c.  extreme environments and molecular techniques

V.  Student presentations and discussion (8 class meetings)

It is the student's responsibility to be familiar with the University of Goergia's
policy on academic honesty as published in the booklet
"A Culture of Honesty:  Policies and Procedures on Academic Honesty".   Evidence of
academic dishonesty will be turned over to the Office
of the Vice President for Academic Affairs for consideration and possible action. 
The minimum penalty for a student found guilty of academic
dishonesty is a grade of "F" in the course and a note on the student's transcript. 
There have been several recent changes in the academic
honesty policy at UGA.  This information is available on-line at
[http://www.uga.edu/~vpaa].  Click on the UGA Academic Honesty
Policy statement.