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Monday, July 8, 2019

GRIP 2019! I Did It! (And a Big Thank You to AncestryProGenealogists!)

The week of June 23 - June 28 at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) absolutely flew by. The course I attended, Advanced DNA Evidence, was coordinated by Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D., and instructed by Blaine, Angie Bush and Karen Stanbary, CG. 

There were some prerequisites for this course: a prior week-long DNA course from an institute, a multiple week online course with homework, AND/OR familiarity with DNA evidence combined with experience with multiple testing companies,  study of the books The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy and Genetic Genealogy in Practice (Blaine T. Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne) as well as completion of the exercises in Genetic Genealogy in Practice.


If you've looked at my recent posts, you know that I spent considerable time preparing for the course. The links to the posts are below and each describes videos, books, and tools I used to review and to prepare myself for the course.




So, did all my preparation and review pay off? I'm very happy to report that it did! The course description gives a list of lecture topics which covered:
  • Y-DNA
  • mtDNA
  • X-DNA
  • Autosomal DNA
  • DNA company tools
  • DNA 3rd-party tools
  • Evaluating a genealogical conclusion using DNA evidence
  • Using Shared Matching
  • Chromosome mapping and painting
  • Advanced chromosome mapping
  • Visual phasing
  • Literature review of DNA evidence in case studies
  • Ethical and legal considerations
  • Future of genetic genealogy

Each day ended in with a case study and optional homework, each day's information building on the last. The final day, we went over the case study to see how we fared with our homework.

I need to express my sincere thanks to AncestryProGenealogists who selected me as the scholarship winner for the GRIP Institute. It was an absolutely wonderful experience. I learned from some of the best in the field. My classmates had a variety of genealogical talents and experiences and I learned from them as well. Thank you, AncestryProGenealogists!


2 comments:

  1. GRIP, and the other genealogy academies, sound like terrific experiences. I hope to attend at least one of them in the future.

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    1. They are wonderful opportunities. I've attended IGHR, SLIG and GRIP. Next on my list is Ged-Fed. But I think that will have to wait a year. Plus that gives me time to prepare a research plan for my visit!

      I should add that SLIG has a Fall Virtual Institute that allows you attend from home. I've attended that the last two years and will be doing another one this fall. They are also great and save the cost of airfare and hotel.

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