January 1, 2015
Hello and welcome to PLS205 winter 2015!
General Info: We invite you to visit the course website and orient yourself:
http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/AGR205
Under “Syllabus & General Information” (http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/AGR205/syllabus.htm),
you will find the topical outline for the class as well as suggested texts and relevant resources. Under
"Course Schedule," you will find a detailed schedule/calendar for the quarter as well as links to all lecture
notes, labs, homework, and supplemental handouts. These materials are updated each year, and we will
activate the links as the quarter progresses.
Preparing Yourself: The pace and structure of this class assume that you have an adequate background
in basic statistics (PLS120 or equivalent). Specifically, we expect you to be familiar with distributions
(Z, t, F, χ2), one-way ANOVA, regression, and correlation. If your statistical knowledge is rusty, we
strongly recommend that you review these concepts from your previous books or from chapters 2, 4, 5, 7,
and 10 from the PLS205 textbook, Principles and Procedures of Statistics (R.G.D. Steel, J.H. Torrie &
D.A. Dickey. McGraw-Hill, Publisher, 3rd Edition, 1997). Though the book is out of print, we have
obtained a copyright permit from the editor and you can find very affordable reprints of it in the textbook
area of the MU bookstore.
SAS Software: All homework and exams require the statistical software package SAS. There are a
number of computer labs on campus with SAS installed (Hutchison 73 and 75, PES 1137), they are
available to you when not in use by other classes. You can access the Virtual Computer Lab at
http://virtuallab.ucdavis.edu/ (Click SAS 9.4, wait, download and launch the RDP file).
Some departments (e.g. Plant Sciences) also have SAS available for no cost via network server for
department members. These are perfectly viable options for this class. That being said, if your personal
computer has an appropriate operating system (see box below), we recommend for your own convenience
that you obtain a standalone SAS student license for your machine.
SAS versions and operating system compatibilities for SAS 9.3 (we are requested SAS information for
SAS 9.4)
Mac - The only version of SAS for Macs is SAS 6.12. SAS 6.12 will only work on MacOS 7.5.3 up to
MacOS 9. This software will not work on MacOS X or higher.
Windows – SAS 9.4 is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (but may not work
with Windows Vista Home versions).
Linux - SAS 9.3 is compatible with both 32 and 64 bit Linux versions.
To obtain a student license, go in person to the MU Bookstore and place an order with the Computer
Shop. Know your operating system and be very clear about which version of SAS you need. Orders take
roughly 2 days to process, at which point you will receive a set of CDs to install. The license is valid
through 6/30/15.
We encourage you to place your order as soon as possible so that you can complete the installation
(sometimes tricky) and have the program ready to use when the quarter begins.
First class: We’ll see you for the first lecture at 9:00 am sharp on Tuesday, Jan 6, 2015, in Bowley 101.
The notes for all lectures are posted on the class website, and you may find it helpful to print a copy and
bring it with you to take notes on them. The first computer laboratory will be on Thursday, Jan 8, in
Hutchison 73, and the first discussion will be on Tuesday, Jan 6.
We hope that you will find this course useful for your own research and your future scientific career!
Best regards,
Jorge Dubcovsky
UC Davis Distinguished Professor
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Researcher
Dept. Plant Sciences, University of California
One Shields Avenue, Davis, 95616 CA, USA
Web site: http://dubcovskylab.ucdavis.edu/home