Degree: Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Major: Chemical Biology

Program Overview

The BA program in chemical biology is intended for pre-professional students who plan careers in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, or pharmacy, and for individuals seeking careers that utilize chemistry to solve problems affecting living systems. A key component of the major is its flexibility; it requires fewer courses than the Chemistry, BA degree and includes six credit hours of technical electives. Many chemical biology BA majors participate in undergraduate research through CHEM 397/CHEM 398 in the Department of Chemistry or in other science departments, including those in the medical school.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to demonstrate proficiency in the content knowledge of the main sub disciplines of chemical biology including general, organic, analytical, physical, and biochemistry.
• Students will be able to solve chemistry problems, and design, carry out, record and analyze the results of chemical experiments.
• Students will be able to utilize peer-reviewed scientific literature effectively, and evaluate technical articles critically.
• Students will be able to design and carry out experiments in a safety-focused manner.
• Students will be able to utilize ethically sound judgements when working with scientific results.

Undergraduate Policies

For undergraduate policies and procedures, please review the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Accelerated Master's Programs

Undergraduate students may participate in accelerated programs toward graduate or professional degrees. For more information and details of the policies and procedures related to accelerated studies, please visit the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Program Requirements 

Students seeking to complete this major and degree program must meet the general requirements for bachelor's degrees and the Unified General Education Requirements. Students completing this program as a secondary major while completing another undergraduate degree program do not need to satisfy the school-specific requirements associated with this major.

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The technical electives may be chosen more widely from any of the physical sciences, math, or engineering courses. A maximum of 6 credot jpirs of CHEM 397 may be taken as technical electives. Further additional units of CHEM 397 may be taken as free electives. Students may wish to group their electives into "tracks" of specialization in order to tailor their degree to a particular area of chemistry.

Departmental Honors

Chemical biology majors who have excellent academic records may participate in the Honors in Chemical biology program. To graduate with honors in chemical biology, a student must satisfy the following requirements:

1. A combined GPA of 3.50 in chemistry, physics, and mathematics and an overall GPA of 3.20

2. A minimum of 6 credit hours of CHEM 397 , or chemical research done under another course number with departmental approval

3. A thesis approved by the department’s undergraduate affairs committee based on the level of research, quality of the manuscript, and chemical content

Sample Plan of Study

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Unified General Education Requirement.