Biology Department
Professors: Drew Ferrier (co-chair), Craig Laufer (co-chair), Oney P. Smith
Professor Emerita: Ann L. Boyd, Laura Betsy Estilow, Ricky Hirschhorn
Associate Professors: Eric Annis, April Boulton, Daehwan Kim, Eric Kindahl
Associate Professor Emeritus: Kathy Falkenstein, Jeffrey, L. Rossio
Assistant Professors: Mark Chee, James Cherry, Yanting Guo, Robert Kambic, Yulu Cherry Liu, Chia-Hua Lue, Sean Sharp, Meredith Yeager
The Department of Biology offers three programs of study leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree and two programs leading to a Master of Science degree. A biology minor, a coastal studies minor, and an environmental science minor are also offered.
The undergraduate major in biology leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree. Biology majors may also earn secondary teaching licensure.
The environmental science and policy major is an interdisciplinary major leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree, administered by the departments of biology, chemistry and physics, economics and management, and political science. Students who choose this major take a common core of environmental studies, natural sciences, and social sciences courses, then concentrate on environmental biology, environmental chemistry, environmental policy, or coastal and watershed studies.
The sustainability studies major leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree and prepares students for a wide variety of careers in government, business, or with non-profit organizations. Students receive holistic training in the areas of sustainable watersheds, food production and distribution, and alternate energy development. The program emphasizes hands-on experiences, civic engagement, and service learning.
The Department also offers Master of Science degrees in biomedical science and in environmental biology.
Facilities: The department is housed in the Hodson Science and Technology Center. Laboratory facilities are either completely new or newly renovated. Lecture and lab classrooms have the latest in multimedia classroom presentation hardware. Specially designed and equipped labs for molecular biology, microbiology, physiology, and ecology are available for course work and student and faculty research. Additional facilities such as a nucleic acid extraction room, cold room, cell culture facilities, fluorescence microscopy, and multiple molecular biology laboratories are all available for teaching and faculty-student research. Students can conduct laboratory analyses using high performance liquid chromatography, ion chromatography, and other specialized analytical instruments. Likewise, the department possesses an array of field sampling equipment for environmental studies and automated data capture. A greenhouse, environmental chambers and an aquatic laboratory are available to grow and study a variety of plants and animals. Other major instrumentation includes a scanning electron microscope, DNA sequencers, a flow cytometer, a multi-function plate reader, and real-time quantitative thermal cyclers. Along with the teaching labs and classrooms, specially designed laboratories for student-faculty research enhance the opportunities for students to join with the faculty in pursuing investigations ranging from biomolecules to ecosystems.
Undergraduate Programs Offered:
Graduate Programs Offered: