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Undergraduate Catalog

2010 - 2011

BS in Biology (65–68 hours*)

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The Discipline

The biology degree provides students with current, practical knowledge of plants and animals, emphasizing whole organism biology in both ecological and evolutionary contexts. Broad, synthetic training, from molecular to community levels of organization, equips students to address critical issues and contemporary biological problems associated with the long-term preservation of earth's biodiversity. Elective flexibility allows students to emphasize the botanical or zoological fields, or create a combined program of study. Undergraduate research opportunities may include internships, museum collections curation, bioinventory and data-basing activities, applied molecular genetics, and field and laboratory research in ecology, conservation biology, or evolutionary biology.

Program Requirements    |    View MAP

  1. Complete the following:

  2. Complete one course from the following:

  3. Complete the following:

  4. Complete one of the following options:
    1. Complete the following:
        MATH 112 : Calculus 1. (4:5:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
        OFFERED: Honors also.
        WHEN TAUGHT:Fall; Winter; Spring; Summer
        PREREQUISITE: Math 110 and 111 or equivalent.
        DESCRIPTION: Differential and integral calculus: limits; continuity; the derivative and applications; extrema; the definite integral; fundamental theorem of calculus; L'Hopital's rule.

                  : Honors Calculus 1.

        MATH 113 : Calculus 2. (4:5:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
        OFFERED: Honors also.
        WHEN TAUGHT:Fall; Winter; Spring; Summer
        PREREQUISITE: Math 112 or equivalent.
        DESCRIPTION: Techniques and applications of integration; sequences, series, convergence tests, power series; parametric equations; polar coordinates.

        STAT 201 : Statistics for Engineers and Scientists. (3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
        STAT 201 : Statistics for Engineers and Scientists. (3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
        WHEN TAUGHT:Fall; Winter; Spring
        PREREQUISITE: MATH 112; or MATH 119
        DESCRIPTION: The scientific method; probability, random variables, common discrete and continuous random variables, central limit theorem; confidence intervals and hypothesis testing; completely randomized experiments; factorial experiments.

      And complete one course from the following:

    2. Complete the following:

    3. Complete the following:

  5. Complete a total of 14 hours of electives, a minimum of six hours from the organismal biology list and a minimum of six hours from the biological processes list.
    1. Organismal biology: complete a minimum of six hours from the following:

    2. Biological processes: complete a minimum of six hours from the following:

      3. Note: As an option, up to four hours of the 14 hours total from (1) mentoring credit (see below) and (2) preapproved upper-division electives from Chem, LfSci, MMBio, NDFS, PDBio, or PWS can be used for elective credit. Written approval by an assigned advisor must be filed with the department prior to enrollment in the course. If students take this option, these hours will be evenly divided between the organismal biology and the biological processes elective requirements.

      Approved mentoring credit:

  6. Complete an exit interview.

Recommended Courses for Career Options

Botany

Students seeking career and graduate school opportunities in botanical fields should build their electives on a foundation of basic plant biology courses. Coupled with the broad integrative biology core, the following courses provide students with the greatest diversity of options for postgraduate work or training in plant biology:

Bio 430, 510, 511, 512.

PWS 282, 283, 355, 440, 515.

Students completing Bio 430 and PWS 330 and 355 often find summer employment opportunities with government land agencies.

Preveterinary Medicine

Beverly L. Roeder, Advisor
386 WIDB (801) 422-6873

Students interested in applying to veterinary medicine schools should take the following courses as part of the biology major:

 

*Hours include courses that may fulfill university core requirements.



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