Biology

Program Options

SUNY Oneonta biology majors can choose from one general track and three specialized tracks: Liberal Arts-Biology, Ecology & Conservation Biology, Biomedical Sciences and Cell & Molecular Biology. More than 40 courses, taught on a two-year cycle, will allow you to further tailor the program to your interests.

Additional opportunities for students with more specialized career goals are available, including a pre-health professions advisement program, 4-3 cooperative programs in physical and occupational therapy, an early assurance physician assistant program with Albany Medical College, and a five-year combined B.S/M.S. Biology program.

Opportunities

All students who major in biology will be required to gain hands-on experience with an advanced topic, either through independent study, research and service-learning projects, or intense, immersion-style coursework. Sufficient background in related sciences and mathematics is a necessity for the modern biologist, and all four tracks include such courses. 

Facilities

Campus tools and facilities include research laboratories, controlled environment animal rooms, plant growth chambers, greenhouses, an herbarium, a tissue culture room and radiation facilities.  At the college’s Cooperstown Campus, the 2,600-acre Biological Field Station facility on the shores of Otsego Lake has 12 buildings housing laboratories, classrooms and equipment for research support. A well-equipped research vessel, electrofishing boat and several smaller boats provide access to bogs, marshes and ponds for teaching and research in aquatic biology and limnology. An upland forest, old field, conifer plantation, meadow and agricultural lands offer additional opportunities to learn and explore.