2016-2017 Catalog

Major Requirements

Individual Program

BIO 105Marine Biology

4

BIO 106Biology of California

4

BIO 110Organisms on Earth

4

BIO 115General Zoology

4

BIO 130Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology

4

And

 

BIO 221Molecular Biology

4

Or

BIO 224Genetic Analysis

4

Or

BIO 226Cell Biology

4

BIO 106Biology of California

4

BIO 260Biodiversity and Organization of Marine Ecosystems

4

BIO 270Ecology

4

BIO 275Flora of Southern California

4

BIO 280Evolutionary Biology

4

BIO 240Vertebrate Physiology

4

BIO 250Plant Form and Function

4

BIO 275Flora of Southern California

4


BIO 490Senior Seminar

4

SUPPORTING COURSEWORK

Students are required to complete five additional courses. Two must be in chemistry as detailed below and three additional quantitative courses.

CHEM 120Foundations of General Chemistry

4

Or

CHEM 130Advanced Placement General Chemistry

4

And

CHEM 220Organic Chemistry I

4

Calculus
Calculus 1Scientific Modeling and Differential Calculus

Students who pass out of Calculus I instead take an additional quantitative course form those listed below.

Data Analysis

Students must select one course from the list below:

BIO 260Biodiversity and Organization of Marine Ecosystems

4

BIO 268Biostatistics

4

COGS 255Data Analysis and Visualization

4

GEO 255Spatial Analysis with Geographic Information Science

4

MATH 150Statistical Data Analysis

4

PSYC 201Statistics in Psychological Science

4

Additional Quantitative Course

Students must complete one additional elective (or a minimum of four units) either from the list above or from the following list:

BIO 270Ecology

4

BIO 326Molecular Evolution and Phylogenomics

4

BIO 340Advanced Animal Physiology

4

BIO 369Biological Oceanography

4

BIO 370Field Ecology

4

CHEM 221Organic Chemistry II

4

CHEM 300Physical Chemistry I

4

CHEM 301Biophysical Chemistry

4

COGS 242Computational Approaches to Cognition

4

COMP 151Programming in Basic

2

COMP 157Programming in C++

2

COMP 161Programming in Java

2

COMP 165Mathematica

2

COMP 167MATLAB

2

COMP 211Introduction to Computer Science

4

COMP 311Data Structures and Algorithms

4

COMP 353Information Theory

4

MATH 120Calculus 2

4

MATH 210Discrete Mathematics

4

MATH 212Multivariable Calculus

4

MATH 214Linear Algebra

4

MATH 310Real Analysis

4

MATH 312Complex Analysis

4

MATH 320Algebra

4

MATH 322Number Theory

4

MATH 330Probability

4

MATH 332Mathematical Statistics

4

MATH 340Ordinary Differential Equations

4

MATH 342Partial Differential Equations

4

MATH 350Mathematical Logic

4

MATH 352Computability and Complexity

4

MATH 354Set Theory and Foundations of Mathematics

4

MATH 360Axiomatic Geometry

4

MATH 362Topology

4

MATH 370Numerical Analysis

4

MATH 380Combinatorics

4

MATH 382Graph Theory

4

MATH 392Mathematical Models in Biology

4

MATH 396Mathematical Modeling

2

PHYS 110Introductory Mechanics

4

PHYS 115General Physics I

4

PHYS 120Introductory Electricity and Magnetism

4

PHYS 125General Physics II

4

For 2-unit courses, students must complete two, 2-unit courses to fulfill one quantitative requirement.

Emphasis in Cell and Molecular Biology

Organismal Biology:

BIO 105Marine Biology

4

BIO 106Biology of California

4

BIO 110Organisms on Earth

4

BIO 115General Zoology

4

Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology

BIO 130Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology

4

Cell and Molecular Biology

BIO 221Molecular Biology

4

BIO 224Genetic Analysis

4

BIO 226Cell Biology

4

Environmental Biology

BIO 106Biology of California

4

BIO 260Biodiversity and Organization of Marine Ecosystems

4

BIO 270Ecology

4

BIO 275Flora of Southern California

4

Evolutionary Biology

BIO 280Evolutionary Biology

4

Organismal Biology

BIO 240Vertebrate Physiology

4

BIO 250Plant Form and Function

4

BIO 275Flora of Southern California

4

Upper-division Biology:

BIO 320Developmental Biology

4

BIO 322Principles of Biochemistry

4

BIO 323Histology

4

BIO 325Microbial Diversity

4

BIO 326Molecular Evolution and Phylogenomics

4

BIO 330Immunology

4

BIO 333Neurobiology

4

BIO 340Advanced Animal Physiology

4

BIO 350Microbial Symbiosis

4

Senior Seminar

BIO 490Senior Seminar

4

SUPPORTING COURSEWORK

All Biology majors must complete the required Supporting Coursework requirements. Please see above for more detail.


Emphasis in Environmental Science

A minimum of 16 courses are required to complete this program.

Biology Foundation:

BIO 130Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology

4

BIO 280Evolutionary Biology

4

BIO 105Marine Biology

4

BIO 106Biology of California

4

BIO 110Organisms on Earth

4

BIO 115General Zoology

4

BIO 240Vertebrate Physiology

4

BIO 250Plant Form and Function

4

BIO 275Flora of Southern California

4

BIO 260Biodiversity and Organization of Marine Ecosystems

4

BIO 270Ecology

4

BIO 350Microbial Symbiosis

4

BIO 360Avian Biology

4

BIO 369Biological Oceanography

4

BIO 380Plant Physiological Ecology

4

Chemistry Component:

CHEM 120Foundations of General Chemistry

4

One other chemistry course with lab

Economics Component:

ECON 101Principles of Economics I

4

ECON 301Environmental Economics and Policy

4

Geology Component:

GEO 105Earth: Our Environment

4

GEO 255Spatial Analysis with Geographic Information Science

4

GEO 245Earth's Climate: Past and Future

4

Mathematics Component:

Calculus 2Scientific Modeling and Integral Calculus

MATH 110Calculus 1

4

And

Department-approved statistics course

Emphasis in Marine Biology

Students are required to satisfy all the requirements for the biology major and must take four of the following upper-division courses:

BIO 260Biodiversity and Organization of Marine Ecosystems

4

BIO 268Biostatistics

4

BIO 344Invertebrate Morphology and Physiology

4

BIO 356The Biology of Marine Fishes

4

BIO 369Biological Oceanography

4

GEO 245Earth's Climate: Past and Future

4

WRITING REQUIREMENT

Students majoring in Biology will satisfy the final component of Occidental College's campus-wide writing requirement by successfully completing two courses at the 300-level (or appropriate course work). Students should familiarize themselves with the departmental requirement at the time of declaring the major. See the Writing Program and consult the department chair for additional information.

HONORS

The Honors Program at Occidental College is designed to allow the superior student’s attention to be focused on a directed investigation for a sustained period of time. It is expected that students admitted to the College Honors Program will have established themselves as outstanding prospects for individualized work in the department of their major and will also have established themselves as doing work of very high quality in all that they have undertaken at Occidental. Student admission to the College Honors Program will be by formal action of the faculty in the student’s major department (taken from the College Catalogue statement on Honors).

Requirements

Application Process

Completion Process