For many students, BIOL 11 will be the entrance course to the major. To help students determine if they are sufficiently prepared to enter a foundation course directly, the Biology department has established an online self-assessment exam for students. Students who have any concerns about their preparedness should take BIOL 11 before enrolling in a foundation course. BIOL 11 may be counted toward the biology major if it is taken either during the first year or as the as the first biology course counted toward the major. Only one offering of BIOL 11 may be taken for credit.
To help students determine if they are sufficiently prepared to enter a foundation course directly, the Biology department has established an online Biology placement/advisory exam for students (available in Canvas). Students who have any concerns about their preparedness should take BIOL 11 before enrolling in a foundation course.
Emerging infectious diseases, which have shaped the course of humanity and caused untold suffering and death, will continue to challenge society as long as humans and microbes co-exist. This course will explore why infectious diseases emerge and re-emerge. The viruses, bacteria and eukaryotes that cause these diseases continually evolve in response to their hosts. Dynamic interactions between rapidly evolving infectious agents and changes in the environment and in host behavior provide such agents with favorable new ecological niches. In addition, dramatic increases in the worldwide movement of people and goods drive the globalization of disease. Guerinot
Cooperation and conflict are universal themes that arise when considering how entities at various levels of organization interact. This is particularly true in biology, from atoms interacting within a molecule, molecules interacting within a cell, or cells interacting within a multicellular organism, individuals interacting within groups, disease organisms interacting within their host, or nations interacting with one another. We will explore how the concepts of game theory apply at the biochemical, cellular and organismal levels to explore how groups of entities at these various levels interact, and how groups transition to individuals. All along the way we will discuss a lot of biology and see how biologists apply what they know to new problems. Calsbeek.
Darwin claimed that other species share the same "mental powers" as humans, only to different degrees. This course will examine the evidence for Darwin's claim, focusing on the evolutionary, neural, and molecular basis of animal cognition. We will ask how and why organisms behave as they do, exploring the ways in which evolution has adapted organisms' information gathering, perception, learning ability, memory, and decision making to both their physical and social world. Key examples will be drawn from navigation, tool-use, communication, and cultural imitation. An overarching emphasis will be placed on the active process of scientific discovery, especially how strong inference and multiple competing hypotheses enable scientists to make discoveries. Laidre