Department of Biology

Course Program For Environmental Biology Majors

The major in Biology is designed to offer students a rigorous program in environmental biology as well as fundamental skills in communicating science to the broader community. 

Program for majors

The program is described in detail below in the following sections:

Biology Courses (required and elective), Additional Science Courses, and Senior Thesis. Completion of all requirements is necessary to obtain the major.


 

AP-credit in Biology


 

Courses in the first year

Normally, the first year includes biology, chemistry, mathematics and general education courses:

Fall term: We recommend 4 courses and seminar:

Spring term: 5 courses is the normal load:


 

Courses in the upper years


 

Program for Majors

1. Biology Courses Required

Required core courses

(32 credits):


 

Elective courses

(5 courses, 15 credits minimum)  Students must take one course from each of Groups A, B and C, and two other courses. 

Group A: Ecology and Behavior

Group B: Environmental, Earth and Quantitative Sciences
 

Group C: Populations, Genes and Genomes
 

Other Upper-level Electives

Total credit requirements: a minimum of 47 credits


 

2. Additional Science Courses Required


 

3. Comprehensive Exam

A comprehensive exam is required of all seniors.  This exam will be administered during the fall term and will consist of the GRE exam to test biology content knowledge.

 

4. Senior Thesis

A senior thesis is a departmental degree requirement. Each Environmental Biology major is required to complete one of the three senior thesis options offered by the department. The thesis is conducted over two semesters in the senior year and is awarded a total of four credits. However, students may begin research earlier, generally in the third year and in the summer between the third and fourth years.

The three senior thesis options are research in the laboratory, field or computer-based [courses BIOL-321 and BIOL-322], teaching biology at the high school level [courses BIOL-331 and BIOL-332], and critical analysis of the literature [courses BIOL-311 and BIOL-312]. Students choose from faculty in our department or outside of the department (although a departmental co-mentor must also be identified).

Senior Thesis - choose one of these (4 credits total)