This document offers a comparison of the Bioinformatics program at Foothill College with SCC's Bioinformatics prototype curriculum.
GDT::Biotech::Bioinformatics Course Sequences presents SCC's prototype curriculum.
Foothill College has been free and open with respect to their biotech programs and generous with their time and help. I want to say Thank You Foothill College and I wish them great Biotech and Computing success.
About Foothill College
The following is a copy/paste from the Foothill-De Anza Community College homepage.
"NASA and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District have signed a planning agreement to develop an academic center for college students interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and education. The plan includes offering academic programs to prepare students for information technology, astrobiology and the life sciences, engineering, mathematics and physical sciences. Once organized, the facility will be housed at NASA Research Park at Moffett Field in Mountain View."Foothill College is located in the Silicon Valley area of California. Silicon Valley has established computing and biotech industries. These industries provide the school with both a student and adjunct faculty base. Biotech must bring industry into the classroom.
Foothill College is near Stanford, UC-Berkeley, UC-Santa Cruz, San Francisco universities and colleges, and so on. Although no formal articulation agreements have been established, these schools offer choices for Foothill students upon program completion. Biotech must bring scientists into the classroom to let us see visions of the future.
Foothill College has over 2,000 computer students enrolled in the CTIS (Computers, Technology and Information Systems) Division. CTIS has experienced a drop in enrollments and the Bioinformatics program augments enrollments by offering on-line courses. Biotech requires a strong Learning About Computing program.
Foothill College confirms that there are three student types: biologist lacking computer skills; computerologist lacking biology skills; and the student who is lacking both skill sets. They acknowledged the existence of computer professionals specializing in the biology domain. Although these three student types exist, Foothill's Bioinformatics program (at least on paper) does not reflect different paths of study based upon student type.
Foothill College uses a quarter system and charges $7 (in-state) per credit hour. This tuition rate appears to be going up in the near future. [Potential 100% increase.] Biotech students are not subjected to lab fees. The Foothill Biotech program operates on a minimal budget and relies on equipment donations from industry.
Bioinformatics at Foothill College Compared to SCC
This section compares Foothill College's existing Bioinformatics program with SCC's proposed Bioinformatics program.
Prerequisites
Students are expected to have basic computer usage literacy along with the ability to use a browser program. An algebra background is also a plus. [Foothill courses: CIS 50A, COIN 51, MATH 101]
Our version of COIN 51 (Fundamentals of the Internet) is not a prerequisite; instead, it is taken during the first semester of study. Our version of COIN 51 does, however, rely on Foothill's other prerequisites (computer literacy and algebra).
Biotechnology Core Classes
I cannot offer any inputs concerning Foothill's Biotechnology core courses; however, I feel BTEC 51A (Cell Biology for Biotech) -- at a minimum -- should be preceded with an introductory chemistry course.
Potential new course: ChemBio 100. This course (taken during the first semester) is a merge of introductory chemistry and biology that prepares students for molecular biology which is taken during the second semester.
Math Courses
Our program contains more math (4) than does Foothill College (1). We have two core math classes followed by two biomath courses.
[ASU Articulation] If a student is interested in being a CS/CSE major, then additional math is required.
English Courses
Our program contains two english courses with the second course emphasizing technical writing. Foothill's program consists of a single english course.
Based upon a CIS Advisory meeting held 14 March 2003 at SCC, our local computing industry told us they were interested in students possessing communication skills. Short Report [http://deru.com/~gdt/computing/bits/advisingCIS.html]
Computer Science Courses
Foothill College's Bioinformatics program has a computing emphasis; however, the computing courses are a mix between Maricopa's CIS and CSC courses.
Foothill's computer core courses are similar to ours from a content perspective: Unix, database (SQL), programming (PERL), Internet (XML).
The Foothill program is void of a specific course on data structures and alorithms.
[TGen meeting with Dr. Touchman] His programmers are working on algorithms.[ASU articulation] If we want the student to be able to transfer to ASU as a CS or CSE major, then algorithms course is required.
Our program has a stronger programming emphasis. Students learn programming using BASH, C, C++, PERL and Python. Foothill includes BioPERL and this along with BioPython could be incorporated into our PERL and Python courses.
Our program has a stronger Unix (operating system) emphasis with the student taking three Unix classes versus one.
Our program introduces students to the Internet using XHTML, cascading style sheets, and server-side includes. They are also taught the following Internet applications: email, usenet, ssh (telnet -- remote login), scp (ftp -- file copy).
Foothill's program lacks a course of software engineering. Students need a software engineering class before they go too deep into programming.
Hyperlinks
Foothill.edu::Bio::Programs::Bioinformatics
Foothill.edu::Biological and Health Sciences Division
FHDA.edu::CTIS Division [Computers, Technology, and Information Systems]
Foothill.edu::Home Page
FHDA.edu::Foothill-De Anza Community College District
Author: G.D.Thurman
[gdt@deru.com]
Created: 10 May 2003