The Department of Biological Sciences at Missouri S&T provides exceptional, interdisciplinary opportunities for engagement of students, faculty, and staff to serve the region and the state. This is accomplished through a curriculum and experiences that emphasize experiential learning, community engagement, and hands-on original research. As a result, our students are prepared for interdisciplinary STEM careers which require problem solving, innovation, and entrepreneurial thinking.

Defining characteristics and attributes of our department

• Two-thirds of our students engage in research through original, often interdisciplinary, projects with one or more faculty members. These projects often result in presentations at local, regional or national conference venues, and some result in student authorships.
  
  
• Our faculty bring a life sciences perspective to multidisciplinary STEM projects at S&T. Our faculty expertise encompasses cell and molecular biology, microbiology, health sciences and environmental biology. Two-thirds of our faculty have ongoing, active collaborative research projects with colleagues in other sciences, engineering, humanities, and social sciences.
  
  
• Our students interested in health sciences careers obtain professional mentoring, as well as educational and employment opportunities with health care professionals at Phelps Health.
  
  
• Biology students gain valuable experience and establish contacts through employment and internship opportunities with local offices of the Missouri Department of Conservation, US Geological Survey, and US Forest Service.
  
  
• Undergraduate students who pursue our unique Bioinnovation Certificate have won numerous entrepreneurship competitions, filed for patent disclosures, and formed multiple LLC’s.
  
  
• Biology hosts the S&T International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) design team. Our students lead organizations that include HELIX (student branch of ASM), Phi Sigma (College Honors Society), SCRUBS (pre-health club), Water Environment Federation, and Graduate Women in Science, and other social and civic oriented groups. Biology students are contributors to design teams such as Engineers Without Borders, Mars Rover, Solar House, and Solar Car.
  
  
• Our students gain valuable experience through field courses, and research projects conducted at our own Ozark Research Field Station, located near the S&T campus.
  
  
• Our students achieve strong outcomes in applications to professional programs, including medicine, physicians assistant, dentistry and veterinary medicine, as well as graduate programs in a wide variety of fields.
  
  
• Undergraduate enrollment in Biological Sciences is the highest of any major in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Business. Female enrollment ranks the highest of any declared major on the S&T campus at 65% female, compared to a campus wide average of 25%.
  
  
• Biology students obtain career mentoring and academic advising directly from our faculty, and students have an exceptional level of access to professors. Our program does not employ professional advisers, and nearly all of our classes are taught by faculty. Our class sizes are small, with enrollments in freshman class sections averaging less than fifty, and senior classes averaging less than twenty students.
  
  
• Faculty members in our department engage educators and the public at multiple levels within our community and across our region through classroom visits, hosting visiting students, participating in area events, and hosting public events.