Courses

Nearly all members of our lab group have active teaching roles as professors or teaching assistants. Some of our most frequent contributions include:

BioEE2525/BioEE2526/BioEE2527 (4 credits, split 2:1:1) Ecology and Conservation of Wildlife in the Neotropics  (see website) This is a Patagonia-based field course that has been running since 2015 and is led by Leo. We will explore the ecology, evolution, behavior, and conservation of the diverse Neotropics. It is a year-long course with class meetings in both the Fall and Spring semesters. In between, we will travel to Patagonia for two weeks.

BioEE1780 (4 or 5 credits) Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity
The flagship evolutionary biology course that is required for all Cornell Biology majors. In recent years Irby has solo-taught this course three times, been the lead instructor four times, and contributed as a module lecturer in most other semesters. Most of the graduate students in our lab have served as TAs in this course in one or more semesters.

BioEE2650: Tropical Ecology and Animal Behavior (see web site)
This Kenya-based field course has been led by Irby and others ten times since 2005. See the course web site for more information. Lab group members Dustin Rubenstein, Dan Rabosky, Petra Deane, Katie Wagner, Sarah States, Nick Mason, and Jake Berv have all helped with the course in different years.

 

Galápagos Curriculum: Bridging Science and Humanities
BioEE/NTRES1780 Evolution and Diversity (5 credits)
WRIT1430 Galápagos Freshman Writing Seminar (3 credits)
This is a novel two-course curriculum that uses the Galápagos as a theme to cover the major principles of evolutionary biology, including a learning adventure to the Galápagos during spring break. All participants are first-year students drawn from the Biology Scholars Program sponsored by Cornell’s Office of Undergraduate Biology. Irby leads this endeavor annually, and graduate students Nick Mason and Becca Brunner have led the Freshman Writing Seminar components.

 

BioEE/NTRES7800 Ornithology Seminar
We offer this seminar every Fall to provide a forum for intellectual exchange on all aspects of avian biology and to foster a sense of community among undergraduates, graduate students, research staff, and faculty. It meets weekly for a seminar-style presentation and discussion period, followed by an informal pizza-and-soda social. Irby is the organizer of this course in most semesters.

BioEE1640/1650 Freshman Writing Seminars
The Lab of Ornithology helps sponsor several FWSs annually in partnership with Cornell’s Knight Writing Institute. Recent grad student seminar leaders include Becca Brunner, Nick Mason, Esther Cline, Taza Shaming, Dan Baldassarre, and Stacy Farina. Irby serves as the faculty course sponsor of this program.