Undergraduate Catalog 2008-2009

Grayson H. Snyder
Director of Undergraduate Studies

Jaynee Straw
Program Undergraduate Advisor

John Ringland
Director of Undergraduate Studies

Shinpei Ohki
Director of Undergraduate Biophysics Programs

The Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) program is an interdisciplinary program that involves the application of mathematics and computing to the study of genes and proteins; computational biology addresses more general questions involving computing applied to cellular and sub-cellular structures. As such, students in bioinformatics and computational biology integrate topics of applied mathematics, computer science, and biology into specialties as diverse as genetics, biophysics, computational science, and microbiology. The program prepares students for graduate studies either in a bioinformatics-related field or in a traditional discipline, as well as for immediate entry into the job market.

The BCB is a single degree program. Students in the BCB program have the option to select a major from among four concentrations, offered in the Departments of Biological Sciences, Physiology and Biophysics, Computer Science and Engineering, and Mathematics. Students complete a full major in their area of concentration and also take additional courses important to bioinformatics in disciplines that complement their concentration. All students take courses in calculus, statistics, molecular biology, organic chemistry, and databases, as well as a core course in bioinformatics. In addition, students enroll in a bioinformatics seminar and complete an interdisciplinary project during their senior year. Through these capstone events and the bioinformatics course, students integrate different fields of study into a coherent whole.