A.B., B.S., and Minor in Biology Curriculum Requirements for the Classes of 2023 and beyond

A.B. biology curriculum requirements (12 courses required):

  • BIOL 111:
  • BIOL 112;
  • BIOL 113;
  • BIOL 490;
  • CHEM 107 or CHEM 103;
  • CHEM 108;
  • MATH 125 (or MATH 141 or MATH 161 or MATH 165)
  • FIVE additional Biology courses.  The five Biology electives must be numbered 205 or higher and must include at least one 300-level course.

  • No more than one research course (BIOL 401-404, 495, 496) can be used towards the major.

  • Computational Methods 151 may be substituted for a Biology elective.

This page reflects the requirements for completing this major. General graduation requirements for all students can be found here.

B.S. biology curriculum requirements (17 courses required):

  • BIOL 111;
  • BIOL 112;
  • BIOL 113;
  • BIOL 490;
  • CHEM 107 or CHEM 103;
  • CHEM 108;
  • CHEM 221
  • MATH 161 or MATH 165
Plus SEVEN Biology electives, which must be numbered 205 or higher and must include at least two 300-level courses.

No more than one research course (BIOL 401-404, 495, 496) can be used towards the major.

Computational Methods 151 may be substituted for a Biology elective.

This page reflects the requirements for completing this major. General graduation requirements for all students can be found here.

Minor in Biology (6 courses):

  • BIOL 111;
  • BIOL 112;
  • BIOL 113;
  • TWO courses above BIOL 205;
  • ONE course at the 300 level.
Two additional science/engineering electives from the list below:
CE 321Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science
CHE 211Material and Energy Balances
CHEM 222Organic Chemistry II
CHEM 231Quantitative Chemical Methods
CHEM 341Survey of Physical Chemistry
CHEM 352Foundational Biochemistry
CS 104Introduction to Game Programming
CS 105Digital Media Computing
ECE 211Digital Circuits I
ECE 221Basic Electric Circuit Analysis
ES 101Introduction to Engineering
ES 105Introduction to Engineering Design for Non-Engineers
ES 232Biomaterials Science
GEOL 320Paleobiology
MATH 162Calculus II
MATH 263Calculus III
MATH 282Techniques of Mathematical Modeling
PHYS 111General Physics-Mechanics and Thermodynamics
PHYS 112General Physics-Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics
PHYS 133Physics II: Electricity, Magnetism, and Waves
PHYS 151Accelerated Physics I: Mechanics and Thermodynamics
PHYS 152Accelerated Physics II: Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics

Courses offered in the Department:

The following are the courses offered in the department.  Also included in the list are three courses offered by other departments that have been approved to serve as biology electives; these three courses count as 200-level biology courses.

  • BIOL 212 Developmental Biology
  • BIOL 213 Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy
  • BIOL 214 Neuroanatomy
  • BIOL 215 Phytopathology
  • BIOL 224 Plant Form, Function and Adaptation
  • BIOL 225 Microbiology
  • BIOL 231 Ecology
  • BIOL 233 Environmental Problem Solving in Biology
  • BIOL 234 Environmental Biology
  • BIOL 235 Evolutionary Biology
  • BIOL 245 Immunology
  • BIOL 251 Human Physiology
  • BIOL 255 Molecular Genetics
  • BIOL 256 Neurobiology
  • BIOL 257 Public Health Biology
  • BIOL 265 Biostatistics
  • BIOL 270 Special Topics
  • BIOL 272 Conservation Biology
  • BIOL 274 Bioinformatics
  • BIOL 277 Cell Biology
  • BIOL 310 Aging and Age-Related Diseases
  • BIOL 314 Anatomy of Vision
  • BIOL 317 Physiology of Extreme Animals
  • BIOL 328 Cancer Biology
  • BIOL 332 Advanced Aquatic Ecology
  • BIOL 336 Evolutionary Genetics
  • BIOL 342 Restoration Ecology
  • BIOL 345 Infectious Disease and Immunity
  • BIOL 347 Precision Medicine
  • BIOL 350 Genomics
  • BIOL 351-380 Special Topics
  • BIOL 356 Biomedical Informatics
  • BIOL 401/404 Independent Research
  • BIOL 495/496 Thesis
  • CM 151 Introduction to Computational Science
  • CHEM 351 Biochemistry Survey (counts as a 200-level course)
  • GEOL 320 Paleobiology (counts as a 200-level course)

Please note: A biology major’s major GPA is calculated using only the grades from BIOL courses.