Lab Coordinator: Dr. Richard Brinn – brinnr@fiu.edu – www.fiu.edu/~brinnr

Instructor:  Elizabeth Stoner – eston002@fiu.edu

Elizabeth’s office hours: Available by appointment only, Mondays and Wednesdays are best, but I am happy to schedule on another day as well. Please call (315) 391-1028 to schedule a meeting.

Required texts:  Lab Manual: Laboratory and Field Investigations in Marine Life. (9^th Edition) 2009

 Sumich/Dudley. Jones and Bartlett Publishers

Reading assignments: You are required to read each lab assignment before lab period.

Course personal supplies required: A lab coat and proper clothing (see Laboratory Safety Rules).

Exams: There will be two exams, midterm and final on the dates listed in your syllabus.

Quizzes: A brief quiz (approximately 10 minutes long) will be given on the dates listed in the schedule . Each quiz will cover information that we have discussed in the previous week's lab. As such, it is important to attend ALL labs, as 25% of your grade will consist of quizzes. Quizzes will be handed out at the beginning of each lab, and if you arrive after quizzes have been started, you may not re-take the quiz, and will receive a 0 for that quiz. Attendance may be excused if there is a serious medical or family emergency, provided that a note is given to the lab instructor. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped.

Lab Manuals: You will be required to maintain your Lab Manual containing your observations and results as well as the answers to exercise questions.

Attendance: Be prepared to participate in ALL the course as scheduled

Help:  If you need additional assistance with the information presented in this course, seek the assistance of the professor. If the office hours on the Biscayne Bay Campus are inconvenient, other arrangements can be made.

Sexual Harassment Policy: The Faculty Senate voted to require each professor to include a statement about this in the syllabus. FIU’s sexual harassment policy is available online:      http://www.fiu.edu/hr/eop/Forms/Policies/Sexual_harassment.pdf

Cheating or plagiarism will not be tolerated!!! Students caught cheating during an examination or plagiarizing will be subject to the Academic Misconduct procedures and penalties.

Proper Laboratory Attire: Laboratory safety equipment (lab coat, closed-toe shoes, and proper attire) will be required for admission to the lab. You must have all of this equipment starting the second lab.  If you do not have your equipment, you will not be allowed into the lab. (See Laboratory Safety Rules)

- Each table will be responsible for cleaning up after each lab. Participation points will be lost from those who do not do so.

Grades:

 Midterm – 35%

Final – 35%

Quizzes – 25%

Participation – 5%

 Emergency:This section covers situations that prevent you for attending the class. For this course, “Emergency” is determined as an unpreventable event that prevents attendance to the laboratory class.

 Emergency situations are: 

1. Medical emergency with Medical Doctor’s note/emergency room.
2. Automobile accident with police report (lack of ride is NOT an emergency case).
3. Death of immediate family members.

Emergency also covers natural events such as hurricanes, floods, or fires that causes the closure of FIU-BBC. Please note that the lab will be closed for the whole week if one of the week’s lab sections is closed/affected. Your instructor will do his/her best to inform you in advance via email. But it is your responsibility to find out the status of emergency. You may contact following numbers for information campus-wide, not specific to Biology Department.

National Hurricane Center (305) 229-4470

Emergency situation also include problems with late registration. Sometimes, paper work causes the delay in class registration. In such event, make-up for the missing labs can be applied. However, your instructor reserves his/her right to deny you to seat in this course.

Campus Operator (305) 919-5000

                              (305) 348-2000

THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS DEEMED NECESSARY