Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Biology - Genomics Concentration

The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in biology is the liberal arts major program, appropriate for students planning a career in law, policy, or secondary school teaching. It requires math and chemistry only through Calculus I and introductory chemistry. Two semesters of introductory biology and eight upper- level courses are required. The upper-level courses include courses in specific areas, as well as elective courses in biology and related biological sciences. Biology in the last two decades has been transformed by the emergence of genomics and its focus on comprehensive and data-intensive approaches to the study of living organisms. Formally, genomics is the scientific study of a genome, the complete DNA sequence of an individual, a population or a species. More generally, the name is also used to refer to a series of related “-omics” that reflect the comprehensive study of the full complement of, for example, proteins (hence, proteomics), transcripts (transcriptomics) or metabolites (metabolomics). The essential feature of the “-omes” is that they concentrate on the complete collection of genes, proteins, transcripts or metabolites, not just on the study of individual entities. It is this focus on comprehensive and high-throughput approaches to questions in biology that distinguishes this area of concentration. The Genomics Concentration involves faculty in Biology, as well as others in departments in Arts & Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering, who are committed to welcoming undergraduate Biology majors into their research programs. The Genomics Concentration encourages students to take basic and advanced level courses covering the experimental and computational approaches that define this field and emphasizes applying this knowledge to ongoing research projects in biology through Independent Study. Students fulfilling the requirements of the Area of Concentration in Genomics will receive a note on their official transcript certifying successful completion of the Area of Concentration.