Department of Biology

At the heart of this discipline lies an all-encompassing mystery: What is life? From the microscopic to the global, biologists seek answers – and, from curing disease to protecting the environment, their findings affect our lives in profound ways. In the rigorous modern biology program at Lake Forest College, students engage this question directly because they are treated as working scientists. Enjoying immediate access to research-grade equipment and a faculty of dedicated teachers and active researchers, students embark on hypothesis-driven journeys of discovery where answers are found not in textbooks, but in the lab and the field.

The department offers students a broad background in modern biology, all the while fostering opportunities for in-depth research. A foundation of core courses—organismal biology, a first-year biology seminar, ecology and evolution, and cellular and molecular biology—prepares our majors for advanced coursework and independent study, including senior seminars and senior thesis projects. One unique opportunity in tropical ecology and conservation brings upper-level students to the cloud forests of Costa Rica’s Talamanca mountains. Students may also choose to pursue independent research internships at world-class institutions such as the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Botanic Gardens in nearby Chicago. In addition, and perhaps most significantly, the faculty involve students as collaborators in their intensive, original scholarship on such topics as neuro-degenerative disease, cell volume regulation, and bird migration.

Given its research focus, the biology department at Lake Forest takes seriously its responsibility to train students to effectively communicate the significance of their findings. Writing, public speaking, and technological communication are all part of what it takes to be a scientist; the department knows this and works with students on these skills throughout their time here, beginning in the first-year seminar. Students gain still more writing and editing experience with Eukaryon, the student-run undergraduate research journal that publishes the very best of Lake Forest students’ life science scholarship.

The biology program at Lake Forest develops exceptionally well-prepared, confident, and competitive graduates. Recent majors have gone on to graduate school in biology at such institutions as Yale, Stanford, Michigan State, and the University of Rochester. Future health professionals have studied medicine at such university hospitals at Brown, Columbia, and Northwestern. Our students have also had success finding work in industry as bio-researchers.

Department Contact:
847-735-5090

 

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