Department of Biological Sciences Honors Program

The Department of Biological Sciences has its own Honors Program! Students are invited to the program if they qualify based on their number of credits (at least 30; 15 for transfer students) and GPA (at least 3.6). Students majoring in any Biological Sciences concentration, Genetics, Microbiology, or Zoology can participate in the program. The program involves honors coursework (at least 8 credits) and a research project (3 research courses, thesis, presentation).

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Why should you participate in the Biological Sciences Honors Program?

• Complete honors-level coursework to improve your academic capabilities
• Experience the process of science first hand, working with a mentor to complete a structured research experience, culminating in a thesis and presentations
• Learn about options and strategies for successful post-college transition
• Connect and collaborate with other honors students and honors-associated faculty
• Graduate with Biological Sciences Honors
• Enroll in classes early!!

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Program Requirements:

1. Students must complete at least 8 credit hours of relevant honors courses (B- or higher). Courses must be 300-level or higher and related to biological sciences. Here is a list of pre–approved courses that will count toward this requirement if taken for Honors Credit, but other courses may also qualify.

• There are four primary ways to receive honors credit for courses:
  • Seated Honors Course
    • The course is labeled as honors in MyPack when the student enrolls in it.
  • Faculty-initiated Honors Project
    • The course instructor presents the honors requirements to interested students and sends a contract with the names and IDs of the students to the University Honors Program.
    • A contract must be submitted to the University Honors Program using their forms.
  • Student-initiated Honors Project
    • The student and instructor agree on a project and the student completes the paperwork and sends it to the University Honors Program.
    • A contract must be submitted to the University Honors Program using their forms.
  • Graduate-level Course
    • The course is 500-level or higher.

2. Students in the program must conduct a research project and complete the accompanying three research classes: BSC 497, BSC 498, and BSC 499. The research project typically requires about 1 to 1.5 years to complete, so plan ahead.

• Students need to find a research mentor and develop a project. The research project must have a biological focus, but could center on teaching, service, or outreach rather than more traditional biological research.
• Once a research mentor is identified and a preliminary project description developed, the student should enroll in BSC 497. Here is the contract to enroll.
• The student completes BSC 497 during their first semester of research, involving 135+ hours of research, Moodle reflections, and a research proposal (3 cr, S/U).
• Students enroll in BSC 498 during their second semester of research on their project (contract), involving 135+ hours of research, Moodle reflections, and a draft of their Honors thesis (3 cr, S/U).
• Students can complete one of these two classes during the summer. Talk to your advisor about how to best enroll in the class if this is your situation, and see the second page of the contract.
• After completing BSC 498, students will take BSC 499, the capstone course of the Biological Sciences Honors Program (1 cr, Graded). In BSC 499, students will work on their presentation skills (in many formats) and finish revising their thesis. They will also present their scholarly work at a local, regional, or national symposium or conference. Students do not have to take this course immediately following BSC 498, but they must have completed BSC 498 prior to BSC 499 (e.g. they begin specific thesis revisions immediately in BSC 499).
• Talk to your academic advisor about how these courses can be used to fulfill Major requirements.

3. Students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.40 or higher.

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How to Find a Research Mentor

• Reach out to faculty directly
  • Students should review faculty websites to see what type of research different faculty do. If a student finds something of interest, they should reach out to that faculty member!
  • Students can also talk to faculty in their courses about research opportunities. Maybe that faculty member has mentioned what they research during class. Even if that faculty member has no upcoming opportunities, they may be able to connect students to other faculty who do.
  • When approaching faculty, students should mention that they are in the BioSci Honors Program.
• Check out the Experiential Learning page
  • There are tons of resources here to find opportunities both at State and elsewhere. This can be a great way to connect to someone and have it turn into a research project for BioSci Honors.

Questions? Contact Dr. Brian Langerhans at langerhans@ncsu.edu.