A “Bio Basics” Short Course: Bringing Modern Biology To An Engineering Faculty

In our post-genomic world, engineers (including engineering faculties!) increasingly need at least a working knowledge of biology and the life sciences. The Arizona State University faculty short course “Bio-Basics” has cycled through two consecutive semester offerings in 2004. This course has provided a structure and forum for interested faculty in ASU’s I.A. Fulton School of Engineering to participate in a series of class meetings focused on a range of topics in modern biology. In each of its first two offerings at ASU, the Bio-Basics short course has capped out its enrollment at its desired maximum of forty participants per semester. This paper describes the objectives, design, implementation, as well as initial and ongoing assessment and evaluation of the Bio-Basics faculty short course.