Personal attention in a research environment:  Clarkson combines two distinctive strengths that benefit students: personalized teaching and high-powered research.  With a 15:1 faculty-to-student ratio, our professors get to know students as individuals. These faculty members are also inspired explorers on the very frontiers of knowledge. They conduct world-class research in areas of vital importance — and involve undergraduates in the process!

Biology Opens Doors to Exciting Career Pathways

Biology, the study of living systems, opens the door to many different occupations. Some of the possible career pathways for Biology majors include opportunities in medical professions, biomedical research, bioengineering, biotechnology, environmental health science, and field ecology, to name a few. You may find you’re working in some exciting and rather unconventional settings. Imagine managing a high-tech DNA sequencing laboratory automated by robotic instrumentation, searching for new species in a tropical rain forest, treating patients in a hospital operating room, or exploring a hydrothermal vent deep in the ocean. As a biologist, your work may involve life-or-death issues and impact some highly charged areas of social policy — prevention of an influenza pandemic or development of new therapies based on stem cells.

Careers in Biology
Career choices are virtually unlimited. An undergraduate degree can take you directly into industry or government as a researcher or lead to work in pharmaceuticals, biotechnological engineering, technical sales, or consulting for laboratory equipment producers. A degree in biology is also excellent preparation for medical, veterinary or dental school or for graduate studies in physical therapy or any of the sciences. Of course, teaching is always an option. Our placement rate for biology graduates has recently stood at 100 percent.

Project-based learning
Clarkson takes a project-based approach to learning. Because you focus on the creative application of knowledge and skills to solve practical, real-world problems, you gain:

• practical laboratory experience
• teamwork and leadership skills
• practice in creative problem solving
• techniques in research and analysis
• skills in applying what you know

And at all levels, you enjoy the individualized attention that only an undergraduate-centered school can provide.

A rigorous but flexible curriculum
Our biology curriculum focuses teaching and research on how biological systems function and interact. It revolves around three main areas: health, the environment, and biotechnology. First- and second-year courses provide interactive classroom and laboratory experiences in the fundamentals of biology, chemistry and physics, as well as math and liberal arts.

In their junior and senior years, students choose upper-level biology courses that best suit their individual career objectives. Some pursue a special interest in engineering or related sciences. Representative course offerings include: genetics, microbiology, comparative anatomy, neurobiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, ecology, animal behavior and cognition, human physiology, advanced cell biology, and limnology/aquatic ecology.

If you’re interested in the business side of biology or biotechnology, you might also consider our five-year program combining an MBA with a B.S. in biology. Pre-Medicine and Pre-Health Science advising is also available, including preparation for Clarkson’s own Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.

Critical thinking and problem solving
Many of our laboratories and courses are inquiry-based. Under close guidance of faculty, you learn how to ask key questions, interpret data, and find answers on your own. All Clarkson biology majors have the
opportunity to work closely with faculty on important, relevant biological research problems. In addition to being dedicated teachers, all of our faculty members are engaged in cutting-edge research. In the research lab, you will learn how to identify problems, design experiments to address them, critically analyze data, and communicate your findings.

Research opportunities in Biology
Opportunities for faculty-guided projects include:

• EEG studies of pain in the brain
• mechanisms of ion channels in the nervous system
• estrogen receptor structure and function
• cancer of human epithelia caused by papillomavirus
• bio-engineering of artificial skin
• biotech applications of neurotoxins from scorpions and cone snails
• development of the digestive system in zebrafish
• behavioral ecology and conservation biology
• molecular evolution and phylogenetics
• role of trace metals in growth of Great Lake phytoplankton
• effect of particulate air pollution on human health

Related interdisciplinary options
One of the exciting new interdisciplinary programs at Clarkson is Biomolecular Science which leads to career possibilities in areas such as genetic engineering, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medicine.
Other options include Environmental Health Science and Environmental Science and Policy, ideal programs for students interested in solving important environmental problems such as using bacteria to clean up
toxic waste.

Accessible technologies
Our students have access to some of the newest scientific technologies, many not generally available to undergraduates — even at much larger universities! These include:

• recombinant expression and purification of proteins
• thermal cyclers for polymerase chain reaction
• AFM (atomic force microscopy)
• electrophysiological recording
• bacterial and cell culture facilities
• scintillation counter for work with radioisotopes
• peptide HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography)
• ultracentrifuge for protein isolation and cell fractionation
• electrospray mass spectroscopy
• cryostorage for preservation of cell lines
• zebrafish aquaculture
• silicon graphics workstation for molecular modeling
• fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy
• darkroom and digital gel photography systems
• luminometer for reporter gene assays
• boats and associated equipment for lake research
• radio tracking receivers and digital range finder for conservation research

Hands-on work experience
Clarkson is noted for providing biology majors with internship opportunities to broaden their knowledge and build practical skills. Internship possibilities include:

• Woods Hole Marine Biological Lab
• Brookhaven
• Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• Mount Desert Island Biological Lab
• Dow Chemical
• Pfizer
• Trudeau Institute

Hiring Clarkson Biology graduates
Revolutionary advances in the medical and environmental fields make the demand for trained biologists greater than ever. Clarkson graduates are highly sought after by employers, graduate and medical schools.

Graduate School Admissions
Among the schools in which our graduates have enrolled in recent years: Albany Medical College Department of Pharmacology, Albert Einstein Medical School, Boston University Medical College, Brandeis, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic Graduate School, McGill University, University of Chicago, University of Rochester, University of Virginia, and Wisconsin at Madison.