DEPARTMENTAL OBJECTIVES

The department offers students the opportunity to explore the various areas of current biology. The major in biology is an integrated yet diverse program that builds from a solid foundation of the basic elements of molecular and cellular biology, genetics, evolution, organ systems, and population studies. Students are exposed to modern concepts, state-of-the-art approaches, and current methods of experimentation in molecular biology, biochemistry, genomics, and bioinformatics within introductory courses taken at the very outset of their studies. Intermediate courses then provides in-depth exploration of the major areas of biology, including molecular genetics, field biology, and genomics and bioinformatics. Advanced students may register for graduate-level courses, which are most often given in the specialized areas of faculty research.

The department also offers a series of discrete minors in the life sciences, specifically in the areas of molecular and cell biology, genetics, genomics and bioinformatics, and environmental biology. Each minor is designed to hone skills in a particular contemporary area of biology and requires a laboratory experience. The minors permit students to create a course of study that will meet their unique academic and career goals.

This program provides outstanding preparation for careers in research, academia, medicine, dentistry, and related fields. Graduates of the department have a remarkable record of success in acceptance into professional schools and in establishing notable careers in the biomedical sciences.

Other courses offered by the department are designed to acquaint nonscience majors with contemporary issues in biology. Such courses are often topical, addressing problems such as environmental pollution, limits of the earth, and human physiology.

Outstanding and highly motivated students are offered special opportunities for honors work, independent study, summer laboratory research, internships, and other enhancements. Upper-level students may become involved in research projects in faculty laboratories through the many formal and informal opportunities afforded by the department. The department has a tradition of important research accomplishment and contains several specialized research and laboratory facilities that are integrated into the educational programs. These include the undergraduate Molecular Biology Laboratory, the Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscope Facility, and the Tissue Culture Facility. Field studies are carried out at many regional sites.  Department faculty are also affiliated with the NYU Center for Comparative Functional Genomics and Systems Biology, the NYU Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences, the NYU School of Medicine, the NYU David B. Kriser School of Dentistry, the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.

Students with questions about majoring in biology or minoring in a specific area of biology should visit the office of the Department of Biology. Those declaring a major in biology are assigned a faculty adviser from the department; students meet with that professor to design a program of study, determine course selections, and discuss career goals. The faculty adviser is also available to provide guidance concerning the many options and opportunities afforded by the department for curricular enhancement, including research experiences.

MAJOR (BACHELOR OF ARTS)

The following courses (completed with grades of C or higher and a minimum GPA of 2.0 for all courses required by and taken as electives in the major) are required: biology: V23.0011-0012 or V23.0013-0014 or V23.9011-9012; V23.0021-0022, one from among V23.0016, V23.0031, V23.0033, V23.0036, V23.0037, V23.0980, V23.0981, V23.0997, V23.0998; four additional 4-point, upper-level courses in biology; chemistry: V25.0101-0102, V25.0103-0104, V25.0243-0244, and V25.0245-0246; physics: V85.0011-0012; and mathematics: V63.0121. A maximum of 4 points in either Independent Study, V23.0997, 0998, or Internship in Biology, V23.0980, 0981, may be counted toward fulfilling the major requirements. To permit the maximal choice of appropriate advanced courses, we strongly recommend that students take biology (V23.0011-0012), chemistry (V25.0101-0102, V25.0103-0104), and mathematics in their freshman year and V23.0021-0022 as sophomores.

A number of graduate courses are available for undergraduate major programs. Programs of majors must be approved each term by a department adviser.

Major with a minor in computer science: For students who wish to combine their biology training with basic information on computer operations. Course requirements are mathematics (V63.0121) and computer science (V22.0101, V22.0102, and V22.0201). It may be necessary for some students to take 18 points per semester to accommodate this minor.

MINOR

The following courses (completed with grades of C or higher and a minimum GPA of 2.0 in all biology courses) are required for the specific minors. Students interested in one of the minors offered in biology should consult the director of undergraduate studies as early as possible in order to plan a course of study that meets their needs.
        To complete the minor in molecular and cell biology, students must take: V23.0011-0012, plus V23.0021-0022 and either V23.0036 or V23.0037.
        To complete the minor in genetics, students must take: V23.0011-0012, V23.0021, V23.0030, and V23.0031.
        To complete the minor in genomics and bioinformatics, students must take: V23.0011-0012, V23.0021, V23.0038, and either V23.0044, G23.1127, or G23.1128.
       To complete the minor in environmental biology, students must take: V23.0011-0012 or the equivalent, and three of the following: V23.0016, V23.0058, V23.0063, and V23.0332.

Students who achieve satisfactory grades on the College Entrance Examination Board Advanced Placement Test may be granted advanced placement. Advanced placement ordinarily allows exemption of V23.0011-0012.

GRADUATE COURSES

A number of courses in specialized fields are given at the graduate level. Courses at the 1000 level are available to undergraduates who have the necessary prerequisites. To take some 2000-level graduate courses in biology, students must obtain the signature of the course instructor and the director of undergraduate studies and have their registration material approved in the department’s graduate office.

HONORS PROGRAM

Candidates for a degree with honors in biology must have an overall grade point average of at least 3.65 and a minimum 3.65 grade point average in all science and mathematics courses required for the major. Departmental honors candidates must also take one honors-level seminar in biology, either V23.0920 or G23.1126. They must take at least one semester of a four-credit Independent Study, V23.0997, 0998, or four-credit Internship, V23.0980, 0981 that must be a laboratory-based research project. Subsequently, honors candidates must register for V23.0999 to prepare a written thesis based on the research results from their Independent Study or Internship experience and to defend the thesis at an oral examination before a faculty committee. Application forms, available at the departmental office, must be submitted by the beginning of the final semester. It is the student’s responsibility to secure a faculty member to sponsor the research and to provide laboratory space and equipment. All necessary arrangements should be completed by the end of the junior year. For general requirements, please see Honors and Awards.