Requirements

Required

  • BIOL 101 (General Biology) or BIOL 112 (Academic Year ’19-’20 and later)
  • At least one course from a selected list of science courses
  • At least one course from a selected list of engineering courses

Selected list of engineering courses

  • CHE 337, CHE 360, CHE 372
  • ECE 437
  • ME 380, ME 489, ME 492
  • ES 232
  • Independent study and/or honors thesis with biotechnology content

Selected list of natural science courses

  • BIOL 225, BIOL 251, BIOL 255, BIOL 256, BIOL 274, BIOL 278, BIOL 312, BIOL 350, BIOL 356
  • CHEM 351, CHEM 352, CHEM 452
  • MATH 374, MATH 385
  • PHYS 220
  • NEUR 201, PSYC 225, PSYC 323
  • Independent study and/or honors thesis with biotechnology content

Honors Thesis

The honors thesis project should be centered within the student’s major department or program.  In addition to following the honors thesis guidelines established by his/her major, the student must demonstrate the project’s relevance to the biotechnology/bioengineering field if he/she plans to have it count towards the minor requirement.  An honor thesis can only be counted one course for the minor if the thesis is successfully completed and defended. Ideally, the student’s thesis committee would have a committee member from the biotechnology/bioengineering advisory committee.

If the student changes his/her mind after the first semester and converts honors to independent study, the Advisory Committee will decide on honoring a course credit upon review of the project report. It is the responsibility of students to inform the committee chair of pursuing honors and/or independent study and provide necessary support documents (proposal, drafts, etc.) at dates no later than their departmental deadlines.

Independent Study

An independent study project can be counted towards the minor requirement if the scope of the project is centered within the major where the independent study is offered and is relevant to the biotechnology or bioengineering field. The project must be approved by the Advisory Committee of the Biotechnology/Bioengineering Program through the following process.

  1. During the first week of the semester in which the student is conducting his/her Independent Study, he/she must submit a project proposal to the Advisory Committee of the Biotechnology/Bioengineering Program for approval. The proposal should demonstrate the relevance of the project to the biotechnology or bioengineering field, outline the tasks to be accomplished in the project, and provide the timeline for each task.
  2. The Advisory Committee should review the project proposal and notify the student if the scope of the project is acceptable as a biotechnology/bioengineering course before the College’s add/drop deadline.
  3. At the end of the semester, the student should demonstrate his/her accomplishment in the project and submit a project report to the Advisory Committee on a date specified by the Committee Chair. The Advisory Committee will decide on giving a course credit towards the minor requirement upon reviewing the project report.