Biology (BS.BIO)

For further information about this major, contact the Biology Coordinator (Dr. Preston Garcia): Preston.Garcia@Castleton.edu

A comprehensive program in biology that prepares students for admission into graduate schools, admission into professional schools, a career in biology, or a career in secondary education.  The program includes a capstone research project and presentation requirement that integrates students' knowledge across the biological and physical sciences and demonstrates their quantitative, intellectual, and communication skills.

Students completing the Bachelor of Science in Biology will demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Biological Concepts

• Ability to define and explain the boundaries, foundational theoretical constructs, and practices in the major subdivisions of biology: Evolution and Diversity of Life, Ecology, Organismal Biology, Cellular and Molecular Biology, and Genetics.
• Fluency in the use of tools, technologies, and methods in the laboratory and natural environment.
• Ability to construct a summative project or paper that draws on current research, scholarship, and/or techniques in the field of biology.

Intellectual Skills

• Ability to make systematic observations, construct hypotheses, and make predictions, design and experiment, interpret data, and form conclusions based on the data.
• Ability to locate, comprehend, assess, and apply the scholarly work of scientists according to accepted practices.
• Ability to communicate scientific information, both orally and in writing, according to accepted practices in the field of biology.
• Ability to use appropriate mathematical and statistical methods to evaluate and interpret biological data.
• Ability to integrate the physical sciences (chemistry and physics) with biology.

Civic Learning

• A clear understanding of the issues and involvement of biology in modern society.