So, we've been running this course on NGS data analysis. And it's been fun and all. But a lot of work.

About a year ago, I thought hard about whether or not I wanted to apply for renewal, and ended up applying again. You can see the final grant if you want; it's much stronger than the first one ;).

I'm happy to report that we got excellent reviews, a good score, and... drum roll... a renewal.

So what'll we be doing?

For the 2014 course, we've moved things into August to avoid some other summer activites at KBS. This means we actually have a lot more room available at KBS. So, we're thinking about adding a few things. In addition to running the course as usual, we've discussed:

• adding a bioinformatics hackathon in the second and third weeks, so that people who come to teach at the course can take advantage of the isolation and climate to do some collaborative work;
• holding a "train the trainers" workshop for Software Carpentry;
• holding an alumni event the 3rd week, so that anyone who took the class 2010-2013 can come back and retool;
• running a bioinformatics conference at MSU somewhere in there;
• adding a microbial ecology course, or a metagenome assembly course;
• (your idea goes here)

Any thoughts?

One big advantage this time 'round is that we plan to make childcare available. So course instructors, TAs, and faculty will have the option of bringing family, as can students.

--titus