This scheduled weekly interdisciplinary seminar provides the context to reflect on concrete experiences at an off-campus internship site and to link these experiences to academic study relating to the political, psychological, social, economic and intellectual forces that shape our views on work and its meaning. The aim is to integrate study in the liberal arts with issues and themes surrounding the pursuit of a creative, productive, and satisfying professional life. Students receive 1.0 unit of academic credit for the academic work that augments their concurrent internship fieldwork.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

Students must write a research proposal, carry out the research, write a thesis, and present a public seminar on their research. The projects are done under the supervision of a faculty research advisor. Details and application forms can be obtained from faculty research advisor or department chair.

This course provides a laboratory/field research experience for seniors under the direction of a faculty mentor. Students may initiate a project or join a research project in the mentor’s lab. Student and mentor fill out a departmental contract. A written research paper, a reflective summary of the research experience, and an oral or poster presentation must be submitted for a final grade. Students are strongly encouraged to take BIOL 201 before choosing a research project.

The marine environment encompasses 99% of the Earth’s biosphere and contains an incredible diversity of microbial, algal, and animal life forms. This course examines the biology of these organisms and the abiotic (e.g., salinity, nutrients, water currents and tides) and biotic factors (e.g., competition, predation, symbiosis) that influence their distribution and abundance. Specific topics include primary and secondary production, rocky intertidal biodiversity, estuaries, subtidal communities, coral reefs, pelagic and deep sea communities, impacts of humans on the ocean, and conservation.

This course provides a survey of key concepts, theories and models in the field of Animal Behavior, integrating behavioral analyses into an explicitly evolutionary framework. Students discuss behaviors important to reproduction, such as selecting mates, and those important to survival, such as finding food and avoiding predators. For each of these contexts, students ask both ’proximate’ and ’ultimate’ questions. Proximate questions concern the mechanistic causes of behavior, including the genetic, hormonal, neural and environmental influences on the development and expression of behavior.

This course explores how modern chemical and biochemical strategies are used to interrogate and manipulate biological systems. The course will focus on selected, recent developments in the field as described in review articles and the primary literature.

An examination of the biology of nerve cells and nervous systems through lectures and discussion of recent research. Topics include cell biology of the neuron, synaptic interactions and the neural bases of learning and memory, the neural circuitry underlying behavior, and developmental neurobiology. Emphasis is placed on students’ oral and written evaluations of scientific literature.

This course provides an in-depth examination of major ecological fields, including ecophysiology, island biogeography, community ecology, and ecosystem ecology. Current ecological research is used to introduce major concepts and methods, foster critical thinking and discussion, and to introduce issues of experimental design and analysis and different approaches to ecology. This course enhances skills that are critical for ecologists including written and oral communication skills, quantitative and programming skills.