Biological Sciences

Our students engage in their learning through: active learning techniques, collaboration, and inquiry.

Our student-centered classrooms are focused on obtaining complex levels of scientific understanding, and on developing critical thinking skills. With nearly 500 undergraduate majors, our department is fortunate to have many Undergraduate Learning Assistants and Graduate Teaching Assistants to assist students and instructors in obtaining these goals.

Our department offers many opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in world-class research. Faculty in our department study a wide range of topics from metabolism at the level of cells, to genetic differences in populations of animals and plants to behavior and physiology of animals. Undergraduate researchers can work for course credit or hourly pay.

NDSU has been designated as an R1 research institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Carnegie’s R1 distinction, titled “Doctoral University: Very High Research Activity,” is its highest classification and is presented to only the top research institutions in the country. The Department of Biological Sciences is proud and energized to be a part of this achievement.

The Department of Biological Sciences at NDSU is home to 22 faculty members and more than 40 graduate students who are involved in scientific research that crosses all levels of biological organization. Top scientists from around the world have joined our team and competitively obtain funding to find answers to biological questions in molecular and cellular biology, evolution, population biology, and ecology.

Our department is also home to STEM education researchers. Studying how students learn science, these faculty have driven research-based change in teaching methods that have resulted in increased student success in our department and across campus.