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Department of Biological Sciences

 

Welcome to the web pages of the Department of Biological Sciences! The information presented here will introduce you to our faculty, staff, programs, and the many opportunities for student involvement.

The University of Rhode Island campus is in an ideal geographic position for many types of biological endeavors. Situated in the village of Kingston in southern Rhode Island, well-equipped campus laboratories are just minutes away from extensive wooded areas, streams, ponds, estuaries, rocky shores, and beaches.

The Narragansett Bay Campus, home of the University's world-renowned Graduate School of Oceanography, is about a ten-minute drive to the east. URI's Alton Jones Campus, site of ongoing terrestrial and aquatic investigations, is about 35 minutes to the northwest. Boston and Cape Cod are each about an hour and a half drive from campus. Not all research efforts are restricted to southern New England -- in recent years faculty and students have conducted investigations and collaborated with colleagues across the United States and in Canada, England, France, Japan, China, the Philippines, Brunei, New Zealand, Bermuda, Belize, Venezuela, The Antarctic and the Caribbean.

 

The Department of Biological Sciences offers sound undergraduate training in basic biology. Students are able to focus on the study of animals (zoology) or plants (botany). Close access to the sea provides an ability for students to pursue an exciting marine emphasis. The breadth of faculty teaching and research interests allows students to gain some specialization in subdisciplines of biology such as ecology and evolutionary biology, cell and developmental biology, physiology, and molecular biology. Undergraduate degree programs in Biological Sciences include the Bachelor of Arts in Biology [offered jointly with the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology], the Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, and the Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology. Because of the stress on basic biology and the supporting sciences of mathematics, chemistry, and physics, degrees offered by the Department assist students with a wide range of interests in the health and environmental sciences, as well as students who understand the advantage of gaining a broad background in biology at the undergraduate level.

 

The faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences greatly encourages undergraduate participation in ongoing research programs. Each semester undergrads may be seen in nearly all of the research laboratories within the Department. This type of experience, and the possibility of academic year and summer internships, study abroad, and involvement in the National Student Exchange Program, help focus student interest on specific professional goals. Our students head in many directions after graduation: they take jobs in the public and private sectors, elementary and secondary education, physical therapy programs, graduate school, or enter professional schools (dental, medical, veterinary).

At the graduate level, the Department of Biological Sciences offers the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biological Sciences. The Department is always seeking qualified applicants who are committed to advanced studies in subdisciplines of biology represented among the faculty.

For more information about this site, contact biosci@etal.uri.edu

Degree Programs Offered
 

(B.A.) Biology

(B.S.) Biological Sciences

(B.S.) Marine Biology (Marine Biology Program)

(M.S.) Biological Sciences

(Ph.D.) Biological Sciences


Recent News:
CBLS Topping Off Ceremony
The Stan Cobb Endowment has reached $25,000 Will support experiential learning in Marine Biology
Preisser funded to study two Hemlock pests
 

Students work directly with professors, as in this study of homing pigeon flight


College of the Environment and Life Sciences
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881 | Phone: 401-874-1000
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