Biology is a rapidly expanding, multifaceted discipline, full of possibilities for undergraduate research and for graduate study and employment after graduation. Here’s what sets Oxy Biology apart.
Our Mission Statement
As students progress from introductory courses through core courses, advanced electives, and mentored research in the liberal arts setting, they learn how to critically assess a scientific problem, collect and analyze data, write and speak about biology for general and technical audiences, and gain the skills needed for a competitive and rapidly changing job market.
What Sets Oxy Biology Apart
Most undergraduate students in the Biology Department participate in high quality mentored research with faculty members. Oxy biology faculty are active scholars that make an impact on their fields, even though they are engaged in significant teaching responsibilities at a liberal arts college. Student research occurs either through independent research experiences in classes during the school year, as directed research one-on-one with faculty (as upper-division research credits), or through the college’s summer research program, which provides a stipend, housing, and research funds to participating students.
In our nationally recognized marine program, students take part in oceanic research on local coastal reefs and kelp forests with Dr. Amber Stubler and Dr. Dan Pondella, they explore mysterious invertebrates in the depths of the ocean with Dr. Shana Goffredi, and they study the physiology and behavior of venomous cone snails with Dr. Joseph Schulz.
Locally, Biology students go into the field to determine how native plants will respond to climate change with Dr. Alex Pivovaroff, while Dr. Gretchen North focuses on the cellular mechanisms of water uptake by arid-land plants in our rooftop greenhouse. Students also explore the urban ecology of amphibians and other animals with Dr. Amanda Zellmer, using large data-sets obtained in part by camera traps, to study spatial and evolutionary processes.
At the bench, Dr. Cheryl Okumura runs one of the only BioSafety Level 2 labs at any small liberal arts college, offering students the opportunity to study interactions between infectious Gram-positive bacterial species and human immune cells. Three of our faculty, Dr. Renee Baran, Dr. Kerry Thompson, and Dr. Schulz, investigate the nervous system from a variety of angles, from neurological disease progression and treatment to the evolution of neurotoxic venom peptides. Dr. Frank Macabenta uses the fruit fly as a model to study cell and tissue changes during larval development, while Dr. Alyssa Rodriguez utilizes biochemistry and computational modeling to study proteins involved with DNA repair and genome stability.
International research opportunities abound, including the ecology of tropical marine sponges in Jamaica with Dr. Stubler, and the water relations and functional traits of topical plants in the rainforests of Costa Rica with Dr. Pivovaroff.
Lastly, our Genomics Center unites new DNA sequencing technologies with museum specimens from our world-renowned biodiversity collections, including a stunning collection of ~120,000 mollusc shells (Cosman Shell Collection) curated by Dr. Schulz and the largest collection of Mexican birds in the world (~65,000), curated by Dr. John McCormack, an evolutionary biologist. The field of genomics continues to transform natural history collections, like those in the Anderson Center for Environmental Sciences, into an extraordinary source of potential new insights into biodiversity and environmental change.
Related Minors
In 2015, Occidental's biology, cognitive science and psychology departments jointly created an interdisciplinary neuroscience minor. The minor is differentiated from a psychology or cognitive science major or minor by the inclusion of a strong neurobiology component for all students. The neuroscience minor requires 6 courses, including a statistics/methods class, and three upper-division classes outside of the student's major. In biology, neuroscience minors must complete Bio130 Introductory Cell & Molecular Biology, a 200-level biology class and at least one of the 300-level biology classes with significant content in neurobiology, neurophysiology or neurodevelopment (ex. Bio320 Developmental Biology, Bio333 Neurobiology, and Bio340 Sensory Biology and Neurophysiology).
Public health is a field geared toward serving others, improving people’s health and well-being, and addressing some of society’s most perplexing questions. Through Oxy’s public health minor, you’ll develop and apply knowledge from multiple disciplines for the promotion and protection of human health, giving due consideration to basic principles of human rights and a wide range of cultural perspectives. The minor, like the field itself, is interdisciplinary, and you will learn about the scientific aspects of disease as well as the political and policy issues involved in improving people’s health and well-being. The minor is jointly administered by the departments of biology, kinesiology and Urban & Environmental Policy (UEP).