Research

At MSU, Biology students have the opportunity to make original contributions to their field. The project undertaken by the student generally takes the form of a one-on-one collaboration with a member of the faculty and therefore usually involves research close to the major interest of the Professor involved. The size of the project and its duration may vary but generally is expected to involve one or two semesters and contribute up to eight semester hours of credits towards graduation.

The primary objective of any undergraduate degree program is to teach students to be independent life-long learners and critical thinkers. The Biology Faculty believe that student involvement in original, experiment based, research is a valuable method of furthering that objective.

While publication is not a requirement, all projects are expected to have a goal of producing results publishable in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Both laboratory based as well as field based research are possible