Welcome to The Biology Department

Biology is the fundamental study of life and living systems.  It is a field that is interdisciplinary by nature and constantly evolving.  The educational goals of our curriculum are to foster student excitement about biology and promote science, as a process and way of knowing, not merely content knowledge.  We offer a strong foundation in biology to prepare for diverse and successful careers and to enrich our students’ lifelong engagement with the world in all its diversity and complexity.

“theBIOquilt” unveiled in the Hopper Science Center

Biology staff member Debra Rogers-Gillig, who has served as a technical assistant in the department for 31 years, created a stunning 10′ x 10′ quilt for the Hopper Science Center focal wall. Each quilt panel represents the lab courses in our curriculum.

News & Announcements

Nov 15th, 2023

TA Applications for Spring 2024 are now being accepted!

Please use this link to access the Spring 2024 application.

Oct 11th, 2023

Faculty member Luana Maroja publishes cricket research

Professor Luana Maroja was recently part of a large collaboration looking at phenotypic variation across Gryllus firmus and G. pennsylvanicus (and hybrids) in the USA.  The researchers measured 4221 crickets across 337 localities and also looked at their life history...

Oct 2nd, 2023

New publication from Williams Lab with three student co-authors

The researchers asked whether zebra finches organize their songs around physiological constraints (pausing to take a breath) or cognitive factors (grouping syllables learned from the same tutor). Songs stopped short of the normal end point after long, loud syllables when...

Sep 25th, 2023

Holland lab researchers publish paper

Holland lab researchers Miriam Li ’23, Hisham Tadfie ’23, and Cameron Darnell ’25 have published a paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on a key enzyme in tryptophan production in plants. Their experiments connected enzyme structure to function and regulation in...

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