- Spring 2026
- Location: Plant Sciences Hall (room 272)
- Time: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9:00-9:50 am
- Office Hour: Thursday 12:15-1:00 pm (except for the first Thursday of the month)
Texts and Reading Materials
Required textbook
- Falconer & Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics
Free Online Materials
- Graham Coop, Population Genetics notes
- Basic R: Quick online reference for data input, basic statistics, and plots.
- STHDA: Statistical tools for high-throughput data analysis.
- R for Data Science: R for Data Science by Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund.
Schedule Spring 2026
The HTML slides will likely be posted on Sunday pm for the next week. The slides are subject to change before the class.
Week 1: Allele and Genotype Frequencies (Ch1)
- 01-14 (W):
- 01-16 (F): Linkage Disequilibrium [HTML]
Week 2: Changes of Allele Frequency (Ch2 & Ch3)
- 01-19 (M): No Class - MLK Day
- 01-21 (W): Migration, Mutation, and Selection [HTML]
- 01-23 (F): Effectiveness of Selection [HTML]
- HW1 assignment in Canvas (Due Next Friday)
Week 3: Small Populations — Simplified Conditions (Ch3 & Ch4)
- 01-26 (M): Genetic Drift [HTML]
- 01-28 (W): Inbreeding [HTML]
- 01-30 (F): Effective Population Size [HTML]
- HW1 Due today at 9AM!
Week 4: Population Structure and Neutrality test (Notes in Canvas)
Week 5: Neutrality Test (Notes in Canvas)
- 02-09 (M): Exam I
- 02-11 (W): Neutral theory [HTML]
- 02-13 (F): Detecting natural selection [HTML]
- HW2 assigned in Canvas (Due Next Friday)
Week 6: Pedigreed Population and Close Inbreeding (Ch5)
- 02-16 (M): Pedigreed population [HTML]
- 02-18 (W): Coancestry [HTML]
- 02-20 (F): No class due to weather
Week 7: Statistical Foundations for Continuous Variation (Ch6 and Notes in Canvas)
- 02-23 (M): Relationship matrix [HTML]
- HW2 Due today!
- 02-25 (W): Statistical foundations of quantitative genetics [HTML]
- 02-27 (F): Continuous Variation [HTML]
Week 8: Population values and means (Ch7)
- 03/02 (M): Average effect of an allele [HTML]
- 03/04 (W): Breeding value and dominance [HTML]
- 03/06 (F): Breeding value interpretation [HTML]
Week 9: Discussion of AI for PopGen Research
- 03/09 (M): In-class discussion about AlphaGenome for genomics research
- 03/11 (W): Continue the AlphaGenome discussion and demo
- 03/13 (F): Exam II
- 8:30 am - 9:50 am in class.
Spring Break: No class
- Enjoy your Spring Break!
Week 10: Genetic components of variance and heritability (Ch8)
- 03/23 (M): Variance partitioning [HTML]
- 03/25 (F): Heritability and Repeatability [HTML]
- 03/27 (M): Resemblance between relatives [HTML]
- HW3 assigned in Canvas!
Week 11: Resemblance between relatives and heritability (Ch9)
- 03/30 (M): Genetic and environmental covariance [HTML]
- 04/01 (W): Estimation of heritability [HTML]
- HW3 Due today!
Week 12: Heritability estimation (Ch10 & Ch11)
- 04/06 (M): Precision of estimation [HTML]
- 04/08 (W): Examples for h2 estimation [HTML]
- 04/10 (F): The breeder’s equation [HTML]
Week 13: Predicting response to selection (Ch11 & Ch12)
- 04/13 (M): Variability in response [HTML]
- HW4 assigned in Canvas!
- 04/15 (W): Asymmetry of responses [HTML]
- 04/17 (F): Long-term results [HTML]
Week 14: Heterosis and correlated traits (Ch14 & Ch19)
- 04/20 (M): Inbreeding depression and heterosis [HTML]
- HW4 due today!
- 04/22 (W): Correlated responses to selection [HTML]
- 04/24 (F): Correlated traits: Index selection [HTML]
Week 15: Genome-wide association study
- 04/27 (M): GWAS [HTML]
- 04/29 (W): In-class demo: AutoResearch!
- 05/01 (F): Final exam
- 8:30 am - 9:50 am in class.