Biology - minor

What you will study

Biology, the study of living organisms and life processes, is the most all-encompassing of the sciences. Understanding basic life processes requires working in many areas in an integrated way.

We want you to be able to use science effectively. You take part in both individual and group investigative laboratories as part of the first two science courses. You develop a real sense of all the planning, the work, the frustration, the excitement — the reality of doing science.

As you progress and refine and build upon these basic abilities, you continue to design and perform experiments in the laboratory and in the field. You learn to use your investigative projects to engage in the more complex work of making relationships and perceiving patterns.

In intermediate courses, you ask more in-depth questions. You build and evaluate scientific models, showing how different biological concepts fit together — and you subject those models to testing, practicing professional methods of data gathering and record keeping. You strengthen your abilities through self-assessment, learning to be an independent judge of your progress.

This self-assessment leads you into advanced work, where you become responsible for your own learning strategies, your goals in long-term projects, and your actions in the internship. You decide what laboratory methods are appropriate for the problems you are investigating and what statistical tests should be applied to your data. And you analyze the role of science in society and develop your own code of scientific ethics, preparing yourself for your future as a professional biologist.

Beginning Requirements
CH-213
213L
Chemistry of Bioorganic Molecules
and Chemistry of Bioorganic Molecules Lab
4
Intermediate Requirements
BI-251
251L
Microbiology
and Microbiology Lab
4
BI-325Cellular Biology3
or BI-361 Genetics Lecture
Advanced Requirements
BI-221
221L
Biology of Plants
and Biology of Plants Lab
4
or BI-222
222L
Biology of Animals
and Biology of Animals Lab
or BI-223 Natural History of North America
or BI-341 Ecology
or BI-441 Animal Behavior
BI-233
233L
Human Anatomy & Physiology 1
and Human Anatomy & Physiology 1 Lab
4
BI ElectiveBiology (BI) Electives, 300 or 400 level6-8
BI LabBiology (BL) Lab from BI-325L, BI-328L, BI-341 (lab in class), BI-361L, BI-425L, BI-441 (lab in class)1