Biology Program Learning Objectives

At the end of the program for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology, students will be able to do the following:

• Demonstrate comprehension of basic concepts of biological literacy.
• Interpret biological data and generate conclusions.
• Communicate basic concepts of the biological science.
• Critically evaluate primary literature in the biological sciences.
• Work competently with a group on projects in the biological sciences.

At the end of the program for a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, students will be able to do the following:

• Apply reasoning about core biological concepts across levels of biological organization.
• Design biological experiments with appropriate strategies, controls and alternative approaches.
• Analyze and evaluate biological data to discover patterns, critically evaluate conclusions and generate predictions for subsequent experiments.
• Communicate core biological sciences across levels of biological organization.
• Critically evaluate primary literature in the biological sciences by weighing the merit of a paper’s evidence relative to currently accepted explanations/solutions.
• Work competently on group projects in the biological sciences.

At the end of the program for a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular and Biomedical Biology, students will be able to do the following:

• Apply reasoning about core biological concepts with emphases on a cellular and molecular scale.
• Design cellular and molecular biology experiments with appropriate strategies, controls and alternative approaches.
• Analyze and evaluate cellular and molecular biology data to discover patterns, critically evaluate conclusions and generate predictions for subsequent experiments.
• Communicate cellular and molecular biology in written and oral forms.
• Critically evaluate scientific literature in cellular and molecular biology by weighing the merit of a paper’s evidence relative to currently accepted explanations/solutions.

At the end of the program for a Bachelor of Science degree in Bioinformatics, students will be able to do the following:

• Apply reasoning about core biological concepts with emphases on the cellular and molecular scale of biology.
• Design, implement and evaluate computer-based systems, processes, components or programs in relation to the contexts of molecular and cellular biology and genomics research.
• Analyze and evaluate bioinformatics data to discover patterns, critically evaluate conclusions and generate predictions for subsequent experiments.
• Communicate biological information relating to bioinformatics in both written and oral forms.
• Work competently in a group on biological concepts in relation to bioinformatics.