Message from Our Chair

Welcome to the Department of Biological Sciences!

Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence This is an amazing time to be exploring the biological sciences! As the study of life itself, biology is a subject that draws the interest of almost everyone. Our understanding of the foundations of life is constantly growing, becoming more nuanced and sophisticated every year. As a broad-based Biological Sciences department, we form a community dedicated to understanding the natural world from global ecosystems down to molecular interactions. We discover new knowledge and train budding scientists.

We have a vibrant and interactive faculty who perform cutting-edge research addressing questions of relevance to medicine and life sciences, biotechnology, pharmacology, agriculture and environmental change. We engage and embrace a community of graduate students who join us as scientists, scholars and educators. Graduate training is rooted in innovative, high-impact research but includes professional development to open up careers in bioengineering, bioindustry, scientific communication and publishing, government and public policy, forensic science, medical research, or academia. We immerse ourselves in undergraduate education, fostering our students’ eagerness to explore the natural world by immersing them in curricula promoting critical thinking, as well as welcoming them into research laboratories to make them active participants in scientific discovery. We reach out to local K-12 students to spark their interests in science, and offer professional development for teachers to keep them abreast of developments in our ever-changing field.

Welcome to our world; it’s a wonderful place to be.

Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence
Professor & Chair
Department of Biological Sciences