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Welcome
to the Department of Biology at the College of Charleston.
Our department has approximately 800 majors, 33 full-time faculty
members, offers two B.S. degrees (Biology and Marine Biology), a
B.A., a master’s degree in Marine
Biology with more than 40 students, and participates in the master’s
degree in Environmental
Studies.
The Biology Department excels at promoting undergraduate and graduate
research and has long had an excellent reputation for mentoring undergraduate
and graduate students, having received a commendation of
excellence from the South Carolina Commission of Higher Education in 1998. About 75 Biology and Marine Biology students participate
in undergraduate research each year. Many of these students are supported
by faculty research grants or by College or departmental funds. Undergraduates
present their research at local, state and national meetings and
many are co-authors with faculty on publications.
Students study rat anatomy in Introductory Biology lab.
Geoff presents research done with Dr. Brian Scholtens on moths.
Students examine organisms collected during the Ocean Transects course taught by Drs. Sancho (Biology) and Sautter (Geology).
Students study bones and organs in Human Anatomy lab.
Dr. Jean Everett leads a group of students on a botany fieldtrip.
Students study photosynthesis in a Cell Biology lab.
Students collect data during a Plant Physiology lab.
Dr. Gorka Sancho helps students examine fishes at Dixie Plantation.
Moreover, our undergraduates have an excellent record of acceptance
into allied health professions and medical school.
Biology faculty are involved in an extraordinarily broad range of
research, including the developmental biology of muscle cells and
conifer pollen tube elongation, sexual selection and the function
of bird song, vertebrate morphology and paleontology, host parasite
interactions at the cell and molecular level, insect biology and
conservation, microbial, vertebrate, invertebrate and plant ecology,
coral reef ecology, marine phytoplankton ecology and biogeochemical
cycling, marine invertebrate physiology, the neurophysiology of circadian
rhythms, physiological ecology of marine turtles, molecular biology
and genetics, molluscan population genetics and plant population
genetics and conservation.
The diversity of these research interests translates into an exciting
diversity of information and research opportunities available to
College of Charleston students.
Facilities
Most of the Biology department is in the second floor of the Rita
Liddy Hollings Science Center, which houses the department office,
research labs and offices for about two-thirds of the faculty, several
classrooms, and nine teaching labs for upper level biology courses.
The four teaching labs for introductory biology are on the third
floor of the Lightsey center, and offices for adjunct faculty are
in 65 Coming Street.
The Grice Marine Lab at
Fort Johnson includes two classrooms, two teaching labs, research
labs and offices for about one-third of the faculty, aquarium and
fish collection rooms, and graduate student dormitory space. The
Biology department also extensively uses Dixie Plantation, the College’s
field site on the Stono River 17 miles south of Charleston.
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