Education

Our Educational Mission

  • Educate — to provide our graduate and undergraduate students with an excellent education
  • Enrich — to engage our students in a complete educational experience through providing a wide range of resources and opportunities in and outside of the classroom.
  • Empower — to prepare our students with the skills and experiences they need to compete and succeed no matter what career path they choose to follow

Educate

A student examines his lab notebook as he prepares a centrifuge

To provide the best science education, we are continually reviewing and improving our curriculum and exploring innovative ways to teach biology. A wide range of research opportunities for students are available through our BISP 199, 197, 196, and 99 programs. We are expanding research options through a special phage genomics research program for entering freshmen; also in summer 2008, we are launching the Eureka! Program which provides summer research internships to undergraduate researchers.

Enrich

A biology graduate student talks with a developmentally disabled child in a wheelchair.

The environment we create for our students outside the classroom is crucial to their overall educational experience at UCSD. Through their own student run organizations, the Biological Sciences Student Association and the undergraduate research journal Saltman Quarterly our students have a voice in crafting their experience. We encourage our students to use the time and freedom during their years with us to explore beyond science — to take classes in philosophy, psychology, to study the arts, dance, languages, that is, to leave their comfort zone. These experiences contribute significantly to a student becoming the well rounded, informed citizen we want to send out into the world.

Empower

A student wearing business attire registers for the biological sciences career expo

We want our students to know what career options they have with a biology degree from UCSD. We provide this guidance through a series of small group interactions with alumni and representatives from various fields during the school year. To ensure their successful transition from student to the job force, we are providing more opportunities for our students to learn and practice the “soft” skills — leadership, communication, networking, team building, and time management. These skills are crucial for our students to compete successfully for spots in professional schools and to work effectively as members of multidisciplinary teams in industry. The annual student-organized Career Expo and Job Fair is another way for our students to take charge of their future while learning valuable skills.

Finally, we are committed to building lifelong relationships with our students through helping them achieve their educational and career goals as students and then through mutually beneficial interactions with them once they join the ranks of biology alumni. Read more...

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