Some students have had a life-long interest in natural sciences; others may have recently become fascinated by some particular area. But they share a desire to begin learning about modern biology and its foundations in some depth early in their college careers. The Biology Honors option was designed for such students irrespective of their ultimate career goals. It provides a rigorous introduction to biology for a limited number of highly motivated students.
The Biology Honors program differs from other biology options in its requirements, in its advising program, and most importantly in its core courses. The core consists of three courses, The Cell (Biology 250), The Organism (Biology 251), and Population Biology (Biology 252). These courses replace Biology 121 and 122, and serve as the prerequisites to upper level courses that may otherwise require 200-level courses for admission. Thus students who successfully complete the core courses do not ordinarily take courses such as Microbiology 200-201 (general microbiology) or EEE 212 (basic ecology). Instead they move directly into 300-level courses.
The core of this option is designed to introduce students to biological principles and to their experimental foundations. Most areas of biology are undergoing rapid growth and extensive reorganization. This program prepares students to appreciate and participate in these developments.
Graduates of the Biology Honors program have been successful in a variety of careers. Several who graduated before the technology for genetic engineering existed have become leaders in this area. Two, quite independently, are using recombinant DNA technology to study nitrogen fixation in plants. Another has combined frog eggs, gene splicing, and directed mutagenesis to unravel the mechanisms cells use to make a mature tRNA molecule. An issue of Science devoted to recombinant DNA had as its cover a photograph of an experiment carried out by another graduate. While some of the graduates are working downward from genes to molecules, others are working from the gene upward and investigating problems in evolutionary and population genetics. One studies lizard communities, another wasps and their parasites, yet another plant ecological genetics. Two former students are doing research concerned with the cytoskeleton of cells. About half of the graduates have gone to medical school, some obtaining both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Some Ph.Ds are doing research with direct medical implications. And some of the students learned early in their undergraduate experience that biology was not sufficiently interesting to them to form the basis of a subsequent career. So the program has also 'trained' successful lawyers, teachers, sociologists, psychologists and homemakers. The high rate of success of the Biology Honors graduates may reflect the quality of the students more than the quality of the program, but the program apparently has not hindered students from finding their diverse ways to challenging careers.
The Honors core courses offer close faculty-student contact. Class size is limited to 30; professors are present in the laboratory. The laboratories are 'open' and most projects require work outside of scheduled class time. Students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their competency through essay exams, lengthy laboratory reports and term papers. Field trips are scheduled to introduce students to organisms in their natural habitats and to sophisticated research equipment.
In addition to taking the core courses, students are required to obtain solid preparation in cognate areas which are playing an increasingly important role in modern biology--chemistry, physics, mathematics and statistics.
Admission to the program is by interview in the spring semester of the freshman year. Adjustment to college, motivation, and grades all play a role in admission. Selection for the program is not based solely on the previous academic record of a student. Continuation in the program requires a grade of at least B in each of the core courses.
Students are assigned faculty advisers to help them plan their undergraduate training and careers. Students are encouraged to become involved in independent research in laboratories throughout the University. Courses in biology beyond the core are not specified, so students may 'specialize' in any area within Life Sciences.
The Biology Honors core courses also are open to students concentrating in other areas, but only if they plan to complete all three and to fulfill the cognate requirements. Thus, these courses have been attractive to students in Biochemistry and Bioengineering.
Additional information may be obtained from Dr. Carol Muster, Director, Biology Honors Option, 618 Morrill Hall. You should call (217) 333-1403 to arrange an appointment.