UGS 303 Originality in the Arts and Sciences 64810 through 64835 UGS 303 Signature course Requirement Dean s Scholars Honors Research Degree Requirement Freshman Research Initiative Course Requirement Overview Students are introduced to the traditions established in the arts and sciences for generating new knowledge from original ideas Modeling after the way that faculty conduct research students are required to create original research reports or papers that utilize skills introduced in lecture and developed using the resources of the university including libraries museums and research collections research laboratories and computer facilities Faculty graduate students and undergraduate mentors will form intellectual communities in which students develop confidence in creating original ideas that will be subject to inquiry Instruction Team Faculty David Laude Lead Instructor Office W C Hogg 3 104 Chemistry and Biochemistry Office hours by appointment dalaude mail utexas edu Please call 471 6176 or e mail Elizabeth Scala Lead Instructor Department of English scala mail utexas edu Office Calhoun 213 Office hours M W 11 to 12 30 and by appointment Please call 471 8375 or email Teaching Assistants Meghan Andrews Alisha Bohnsack keeper of libraries and grades keeper of labs English Chemistry meghan andrews mail utexas edu abohnsack cm utexas edu Undergraduate Teaching Assistants UGTAs and Cohort Leaders Name Allen Genevieve Berdanier Will Bisewski Hannah Cacciatore Chris Cameron James Chang Leslie Fraden Clara Gaddam Neha Kauffman Courtney Kuperman Anna Law Jade Manthuruthil Christine Maples Thomas Mehta Nirja Popat Shreeya Ritter Zachary Tien Matthew Upadhyay Parth Majors including double majors Major Honors Biology Honors Physics Plan II Honors Honors Biochem Plan II Honors Honors Math Plan II Honors Honors BioChem Honors BME Honors Plan II Asian Studies Biology Honors Biology Plan II Plan II Neurobiology Plan II Honors Plan II Honors Biology Honors Biochem Anthropology Honors Biology Psychology Plan II Honors Biology Turing Scholar CS Honors Biochem Turing Scholar Honors EE Email genevieve allen utexas edu will berdanier utexas edu Hannahebb gmail com cacciatore utexas edu j cameron utexas edu leslie l chang gmail com clara fraden gmail com gaddam ng gmail com Courtney Kauffman utexas edu kupermananna yahoo com law jade gmail com cmanthuruthil gmail com tmaples utexas edu nirjamehta001 gmail com snpopat gmail com zachdritter gmail com Matthew Tien yahoo com parth upadhyay gmail com Where is everything I don t know Course Website http laude cm utexas edu courses Course Components Meeting Times Lectures Monday and Wednesday from 10 to 11 in GRG 102 Administrative Meetings This course is complicated so sometimes the class will meet on Fridays from 10 to 11 in GRG 102 to find its bearings Lab Times Fridays in BME 2 506 Lectures Professors Laude and Scala will usually lecture once each per week Lecture topics are included in the course outline In addition to the discipline specific lectures regularly scheduled informal conversations between the faculty and students will address more general ideas of interest to academicians Signature Course Requirements Signature courses have certain core requirements Fortunately the course itself maps onto these requirements effortlessly you will interact with faculty a great deal write a great deal speak a great deal frequent the libraries and jewels of the university a great deal and participate in the intellectual life of the university including attending the University Lecture Series Details of these activities are found in the inquiries and skill modules required for satisfactory completion of the course Laboratory This OAS class has the use of BME 2 506 on Fridays and other times as needed The laboratory is a good place for incubating science inquiry ideas and post inquiry reflections You will also perform at least one inquiry using the equipment in the lab One of your TAs Alisha will supervise the UGTAs who will help her manage the lab teach you basic skills and make sure you are safety trained and know how to check out and use the equipment Museums and Libraries This OAS class will make substantial use of the University s rich collection of libraries and museums These locations are a great place for incubating humanities inquiry ideas and postinquiry reflections You will perform at least one inquiry using these facilities To help you prepare one of your TAs Meghan will supervise the UGTAs who will help in teaching you how to navigate the libraries and museums Cohorts and UGTAs Each student will be assigned to a cohort of about 6 or so students with a lead UGTA The cohorts will attempt to gather students with similar majors career interests or intellectual thrusts You are required to meet once a week for an hour with your cohort It is within the cohort that much of the guidance will be provided in developing inquiry ideas and executing skill modules Your cohort UGTA will be responsible for managing your work product and seeing that it gets where it needs to go for grading Assignments There are no exams Instead you will be asked to turn in 16 assignments Three inquiries each of which is worth 15 of your course grade Twelve skill modules each of which is worth 2 5 of your course grade One group project that is worth 25 of your course grade Inquiries The primary mode of assessment will be the work product of self directed inquiries spawned from original ideas Each student must complete three original inquiries to fulfill about one points assigned for the course grade In reality your three inquiries will define what kind of grade you get for the course since the skill modules and group work are less likely to allow you to individually demonstrate what you are capable of achieving as an independent creative thinker In other words this is where you should put 90 of your effort for the course Skills Modules Over the course of the semester you will be asked to develop an array of skills that you will find to be useful in your quest to become an independent creative thinker at UT Austin The resources of this university are vast and believe it or not extend well outside the classroom You may decide to learn how to navigate the HRC or calibrate a photometer or use Excel to do a statistical analysis or simply talk with a professor about an idea you have Think of it sort of like earning your merit badges You will need to earn 12 badges and there will be