The Biological Sciences graduate program is designed flexibly to allow students, with their advisors, to mold and focus their program of study on professional interests and specific needs. To do this, students can draw from a broad range of graduate courses and select from a diverse and well-trained faculty for direction in research.
The Department of Biological Sciences is located in Trafton Science Center, one of the best science buildings in the state university system. Trafton Science Center presents an open, collaborative atmosphere for graduate study and research, and includes well-equipped research and classroom laboratories. Another attractive feature is Biology's proximity to other science departments, whose faculty members provide opportunities for multidisciplinary study in chemistry, mathematics, computer science, physics and electrical engineering.
The department's modern facilities provide opportunities for research and teaching, with 18 research laboratories, plus support areas. Among those are a media kitchen, environmental chambers, animal complex, greenhouse, dishwashing facility, herbarium, museum and a garage for field equipment. The department's equipment is suitable for biological investigations ranging from ecosystem analysis to subcellular physiology.
Instrumentation available includes transmission and scanning electron microscopes, ultracentrifuges, diode array spectrophotometers, graphite furnace AA, scintillation counter, gas chromatographs with FID, ECD and MSD, ultrafreezers, computer-controlled physiology data acquisition, Coulter counter, fermentation facility, freeze dryers, thermocyclers (PCR), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometers, chlorophyll fluorometers, infrared gas analyzer, flow cytometer, and other equipment necessary for modern biological research opportunities.
All members of the department's graduate faculty hold doctorates and have extensive research experience. Areas of concentration in research and teaching are Biology Education, Microbiology, Biomedical Sciences, Environmental Science, Toxicology, Ecology, Zoology, and Plant Science. Sub areas of teaching specialization include physiology, cellular biology, developmental biology, plant and animal ecology, genetics and evolutionary biology, parasitology, immunology, entomology, and aquatic biology.
