You will be assigned to work in groups of 3 on a pilot project associated with our Arabidopsis. There are two main goals for the pilot project:

Research Goals: You have noticed that there is a high degree of variability in soil and water absorption in our experimental set up. Does this introduce a degree of bias that will obscure and impede our ability to measure the impact of drought, genotype (knockout) and the interaction between the two?

Educational Goals are to provide a vehicle for improving your knowledge and abilities as scientists. Here are some important lessons to learn about science and being a scientist:.

Science is iterative: This is because we rarely are able to think through all the ramifications of our experimental design or even of our experimental system the first time through
Problem solving is an integral part of science (see above).
We build on the shoulders of those who came before: you will need to look at the scientific literature to see what other scientists are doing who study drought/water stress.
There are always limits: you will be limited by the equipment, supplies and set up that we have here at SRJC. Even at the most high tech research facility there are limiting factors, including the limits imposed by the biological system you are studying.
Scientist work in groups and cooperate with each other: you will be broken up into groups of 3 students. On the plus side, you will be able to divide up the work load. On the minus side, you will have to learn to work together, even if you think you could do it better yourself.

Outline of Pilot Project

9/21	Group assignment; overview and begin planning
10/12	Meet with Peggy & Abigail to review plans - rough draft of material list.
10/19	Finalize plans, material list and submit Proposal by end of lab
10/24	Begin Pilot Project
10/31	Pilot Project continued (Arabidopsis Class Project Harvest)
11/2	Finish up data collection and start analysis of Pilot Project
11/7	Pilot Project data analysis
12/7	Pilot Project presentation and paper due