Study living organisms in the laboratory, classroom and field.
As a biology major or minor, our curriculum will give you a broad background in biology while providing for specialization in your particular interest.
You’ll also gain extensive experience in testing your own hypotheses and designing your own experiments. You will carry out scientific investigations in the lab, the field and the classroom.
Biology majors pursue graduate work in biology or the health professions, or enter careers in government, business, law, journalism, secondary school teaching, environmental consulting, conservation organizations or biotechnology.
What You’ll Study
- Evolution and ecology
- Genetics, cell biology and bioinformatics
- Animal and plant physiology, developmental biology, animal behavior and conservation biology
- The process of biological inquiry
- Field and laboratory research methods
Researching at 6VµçÓ°Íø
Collecting Insects
Alexandria Long ’22 learned to collect and identify insects in her Insect Ecology and Behavior course. She put those skills to use in her internship at the Michigan Aerospace Corporation, where she created collections of insects invasive to the Michigan watersheds.
Doris Duke Conservation Scholar
Andreah Pierre ’22 was a named a Doris Duke Conservation Scholar which gave her the opportunity to spend two consecutive summers researching and learning all about conservation and marine biology.
CRISPR/Cas-9 and Eggshell Formation
Alejandro Tovar ’22 spent a summer in Prof. Sara Olson’s lab using CRISPR/Cas-9 techniques to explore the role that a newly discovering gene, B0513.4, had on eggshell formation in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegan, or C. elegan
Climate Change and Bees
Sofia Dartnell ’22 spent summer of 2020 at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, working on a long-term bee phenology project and studying the effects of climate change on parasitic bees and their hosts.
Studying Plant Physiology
Jacob Ligorria ’23 analyzed current scientific literature regarding telegraph plants, plants that move their leaflets very quickly, and identified the most prominent gaps in our understanding of leaflet motion to suggest future avenues of investigation.
The Biology Department’s sense of community and collaboration is instilled from the first day of Introductory Genetics. We are encouraged to work together on problem sets and to help each other understand class concepts. Professors have made an incredible effort to get to know me, asking me about life outside of class and even remembering some of my family members’ names after only a few conversations.