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Majors Courses Research Advising Organizations Awards |
Education: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. Biology is different from other sciences. There is a mystique to studying the nature of life that never dwindles, whether a student is taking an introductory course to fulfill a requirement for their degree, pursuing the field in earnest in one of our degree programs, or working in a laboratory - or outside of one, for some disciplines - in hopes of uncovering more of the great unknown. Everyone has learned some biology at some point, either informally (we need to eat and breath and sleep, and there are complicated things involving birds and bees) or formally, during their high school education. College-level study of the Biological Sciences builds on this foundation to offer greater insight into the nature of living things, while losing none of the ability to inspire curiosity, wonder and respect. Here we offer opportunities for everyone to learn about life, and how it works. We begin with introductory courses - and there are several different kinds, suitable for different students - to provide the college student with either a working knowledge of the field that will augment their education, or the background and vocabulary to continue in pursuit of biological knowledge in one of our four majors. You can learn about our majors using the information provided on the pages linked to the left. The Biological Sciences major offers maximum flexibility, the Ecology and Evolution major focuses on processes operating at large scales, the Molecular Biology major focuses on processes operating at small scales, and the Microbiology major focuses on the diverse world of unicellular organisms that control both the nature of the global biosphere and human disease. We have provided all of the information you need to pursue a major on these pages, but nothing can replace consultation with one of our Bioscience advisors; even before you consider a major within our Department, a talk with a specialized advisor can help you plan a stimulating, manageable and rewarding curriculum.
Ours is also a Department actively engaged in gathering new information, through research carried out in the dozens of laboratories scattered throughout the Clapp-Langley-Crawford complex. Undergraduates play major roles in performing this research - and then presenting their findings to the scientific community at meetings and in publications. One should never underestimate the impact of Undergraduate researchers. Consider Martha Chase, an undergraduate working with Alfred Hershey in the early 1950's. It was their experiments that proved to the world that DNA was the heritable material of life; no small accomplishment at all. Ours is also a broad and interactive Department. There are numerous opportunities for discussion and gatherings with like-minded fellow students. See the pages describing these organizations to see if they are right for you. |
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