Why Major in EBIO?

Who are the Majors?

One way of understanding whether or not the EBIO major is a good choice for a particular student is by looking at the mix of students who now take EBIO as a major. The 700 EBIO majors fall into four groups, as described below.

Students considering careers in Natural Resources Management, Environmental Consulting, Environmental Law, or Environmental Science.

A large number of EBIO majors would like to enter a career associated with some form of environmental management, regulation, or consulting. The EBIO major is an ideal choice for such students as it provides the scientific foundation required to understand how natural ecosystems, communities, and populations interact with their surrounding environment and human influences that are progressively influencing the natural world. Issues such as the preservation of biodiversity, the health of ecosystems, and global ecology are all addressed in the courses offered as part of the EBIO major. When combined with courses in political science, environmental policy, economics and sociology, the EBIO major provides evidence of rigorous training in those disciplines required for a successful career in environmental management, regulation, or consulting.

Pre-Health Science Students

Many EBIO majors are planning careers in health sciences. Large numbers of students enter the freshman class of any major university in the U. S. with the idea of ultimately obtaining an MD degree. Sometimes this reflects parental ambitions, sometimes it merely seems like a safe choice in the mind of the student, and sometimes it reflects a very strong and persistent personal ambition. Most of the individuals who begin as freshmen with the idea of going to medical school ultimately do other things. Some of them discover that their interests are developing along other lines, while others conclude that the intense competition related to grades and entrance exams preceding medical school, and the competition beyond that in medical school, will not be right for them. Others persist, and are ultimately admitted to medical school.

EBIO is an excellent choice of major for students who are considering entry to medical school. As part of the EBIO major, students are required to take General Biology, Cell Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics which form the foundation for a successful application to medical school. Also, the major is broad enough to allow students to develop interests along other lines if they decide that medical school is not for them.

Students Considering Graduate School

A second large proportion of EBIO majors are students who are considering post-graduate education in the field of biology. Many of these students will apply to graduate school in some biological discipline, while others may change their minds and seek employment with the bachelor's degree in biology. These students are often, but not always, strongly oriented toward ecological, environmental, or evolutionary subjects. Their interests include organisms in relation to the environment, biodiversity, environmental protection, plant sciences, animal behavior, physiology, conservation, and other related subdisciplines. All of these interests are appropriate for the EBIO major.

Students Who Just Like Biology

In addition to the students who are professionally or medically oriented and those who are thinking about post-graduate education in the field of biology, the Department serves a large number of students (as many as 50%) who choose biology primarily because of their intrinsic interest in the subject, without considering either professional school or graduate school. In some cases, they may know very well that they will be working in another field after graduation. For example, they may be entering the family business or they may seek general employment without attempting to emphasize biology. Others will seek biologically oriented careers at the bachelor's level, but will be flexible enough to accept other employment if no biologically oriented jobs are available.

Students who are not necessarily seeking education beyond the bachelor's degree are welcome in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Because EBIO is a part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department reflects the values of the College, which are based upon a broad education within which the major is an area of greater concentration, but still with the general aim of broad exposure to many subjects. The bachelor's degree with a major in EBIO is intended to be a milestone all by itself, and does not necessarily have to lead to graduate school or professional school.

Others

In addition to the three large groups mentioned above, the Department contains a variety of other students. Some students are specifically oriented toward K-12 teaching, while others are thinking of law school or possibly even business prospects that are biologically oriented, such as aquaculture. Because the major is broad, all of these students will find the curriculum appropriate to their needs.

Alternative Majors

Students must make choices between EBIO and other majors that are either biological or environmental. The most difficult choices typically relate to three other majors offered on the campus: (1) Environmental Studies, (2) Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and (3) Integrative Physiology.

Environmental Studies

The Environmental Studies major is operated by a group of cooperating departments including EBIO, Geography, Chemistry, Political Science, Economics, Philosophy, and Geology. It is mainly an option for students who are interested in the environmental sciences, but do not wish to focus on a particular discipline. There are social science courses as well as natural science courses in the curriculum. If a student's primary interest in the environment tends to be more in the area of science, and less in policy, i.e., how organisms function and behave, adaptation, biodiversity, ecosystems, plant and animal communities, and related subjects, then the appropriate major is EBIO. If the student is interested to a large extent in social scientific aspects of environment--environmental policy, economic causes of environmental deterioration, survey of worldwide environmental problems, and related subjectsãthen the appropriate major may be Environmental Studies.

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB)

The Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) tends to cover biological topics at the level of cells and below.

The curricula of the MCDB and EBIO departments are very different. EBIO deals primarily with organisms, communities, and ecosystems, whereas MCDB focuses on the molecular phenomena that occur inside cells. EBIO incorporates molecular biology into many of its courses in order to ensure that students have exposure to this material as part of their biological education and EBIO students are required to take a one -semester course in cell biology, which is taught by MCDB faculty. However, the ultimate objective of EBIO is to produce an understanding of the way in which organisms function, their evolution, their diversity, and their ecological relationships. EBIO students can use a number of MCDB courses in completing the major in EBIO if they wish to emphasize a combination of cellular and higher levels of organization

Integrative Physiology

The mission of the Department of Integrative Physiology (IPHY) is to discover and promote knowledge of how humans and other animals function at the level of cells, organs, and systems. The program of study emphasizes both the role of physical activity in human health and function across the lifespan and the responses of different organisms to various forms of stress. With this basic knowledge, students can undertake a flexible curriculum that includes the study of biomechanics, cell physiology, comparative physiology, endocrinology, immunology, exercise physiology, and neurophysiology.

The primary difference between a major in IPHY and EBIO is a greater focus on how organisms function in IPHY and a greater focus on how organisms relate to their environment in EBIO. Both majors provide strong foundations in organismic biology, but with a different perspective. Students interested in focusing and specializing in the issue of how organisms work as a foundation for certain health careers may find IPHY to be the most appropriate major. Students interested in how organisms behave, or how organismic function is affected by environmental stress may find a combination of IPHY and EBIO courses to be the most appropriate, with a major in either department.