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Facilities
Laboratories are equipped for serious scientific inquiry. Research equipment in the Olin Hall of Science and its greenhouse includes: high-speed refrigerated centrifuge; ultracentrifuge; thermal cycler for PCR; spectrophotomers; dark field and phase microscopy with cameras; elecrophoresis and immunoelectrophoresis equipment; environmental growth chambers; herbarium; constant temperature rooms; freeze-dryer; environmental shaker and laminar flow hoods.
Grants and Endowments
With funds from HHMI, the Kresge Foundation, the Peter Kiewit
Foundation and the National Science Foundation, the department
has enhanced laboratories and computer facilities, purchased
and upgraded scientific equipment and added
instructional technologies to its courses. The Natural Sciences
Division received a $600,000 grant from the Kresge
Foundation. It currently
has a $650,000 three-year Biomedical Research Infrastructure
Network (BRIN) from the National Institutes of Health.
Practical Experience
Biology students conduct research in faculty-supervised
labs, pursue their own independent projects and participate
in international field expedition courses. Summer and winter term courses take students on field study expeditions to Costa Rica and
Belize.
Every year the department hires about
40 students as laboratory assistants and animal room and greenhouse keepers. Student
employment opportunities are also available at several biotechnology
companies and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's nearby
agricultural research facility.
Research
Each department major completes a senior research project. The Student Research Fellowship Program provides stipends to conduct summer research out-of-state and abroad. Since 1992, over 150 students have completed research fellowships; many have presented their results at state, regional, national or international professional meetings. Research projects have covered an enormous variety of topics, such as disease-causing microbes, ground squirrels, cancer, immunology and parasitology.
Recent graduates have completed summer research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Michigan and the University of Iowa. An ever-expanding network of faculty connections has led to dozens of fellowships across the globe, including: the Roslin Institute, Scotland; the School for Field Studies Field Station Center, Australia; and the Institute for Animal
Science and Health, the Netherlands.
Beta Beta Beta (biology honorary)
Membership requirements at Nebraska Wesleyan:
- Students majoring in Biology
- Completed at least 16 hours of biology courses
- Maintain a biology GPA of 3.40 and an overall GPA of 3.20
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