BioSci 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 (including the BA program), Genetics, Microbiology, or Zoology can participate in the honors program. The program involves honors coursework (at least 8 credits) and a research project (3 research courses, thesis, presentations).

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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!! (Owing to the time-management challenges arising from this rigorous program, you will need this.)

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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 five 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. This can be emailed to universityhonors@ncsu.edu. Students should discuss this with their professor before classes begin.
    • 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. This can be emailed to universityhonors@ncsu.edu. Students should discuss this with their professor before classes begin.
    • Graduate-level Course
      • The course is 500-level or higher.
    • Study Abroad Course
      • Students can request honors credit for courses taken off campus that they feel warrant consideration for honors credit by submitting the Study Abroad Request Form. The BioSci Honors Program Committee will review the request to determine whether honors credit can be granted.
  • Students who receive honors credit for a class will have a statement underneath that class on their transcript that they met the Honors requirements for that class.

 

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 1.5 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 BSC 497 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 (BSC 498 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 third page of the contract.
  • After completing BSC 498, students will request enrollment in BSC 499 when they are ready. BSC 499 is the capstone course of the Biological Sciences Honors Program (1 cr, Graded). BSC 499 centers of science communication. 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.

 

4. Students must respond to surveys sent out in the program listserv. Once you join the program, you will be added to a listserv. This listserv is used to send out newsletters with program updates, events, and to highlight projects of students graduating from the program. The surveys are to collect information on participant progress.

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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, and try to stand out as a strong research candidate in their lab (there is often fierce competition for undergraduate research in labs).
  • Check out the tips on the Experiential Learning page
    • There are tons of resources there 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.

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Recent Thesis Titles of BioSci Honors Students

  • 2023-2024
    • Gaven Bell, “Estrous cycle regulation of amygdala activation following threat conditioning in C57Bl/6j mice”, Mentor: Elizabeth Lucas, PhD
    • Bridget Gigliotti, “Digital PCR for the detection of antibiotic resistance genes in compost”, Mentor: Carlos Goller, PhD
    • Milena Kidwell, “Loss of GEF Ect2 and GTPase RhoA inhibits cell cycle progression through G1/S”, Mentor: Christophe Guilluy, PhD
    • Alissa Meyerhoffer, “Assessing the growth of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron on different sources of dietary protein”, Mentor: Manuel Kleiner, PhD
    • Molly Mizenko, “Investigating Genetics Students’ Understanding of Illumina sequencing using a 3D virtual tour and paired case study”, Mentor: Claire Gordy, PhD
    • Aly Prockter, “Improving the mathematical model for chemical absorption of chemical products in human skin”, Mentor: Hien Tran, PhD
    • Gabrielle Schuh, “The single-minded gene affects metabolism in Drosophila melanogaster“, Mentor: Patricia Estes, PhD
    • Rachael Bieler, “Long-term effects of developmental cyanotoxin exposure on neural function of zebrafish”, Mentor: Kurt Marsden, PhD
    • Renee Du, “Antiviral activity of CPI-1079 against human rhinovirus 14 strain 1059 in H1-HeLa cells “, Mentor: Frank Scholle, PhD
    • Sarah Fletcher, “Medium spiny neuron excitability is greater during early development in rats”, Mentor: John Meitzen, PhD
    • Thusna Gardiyehewa, “The role of USF1 in lymphocyte responses to double-stranded DNA breaks”, Mentor: Michael Sikes, PhD
    • Victoria Kapps, “Developmental co-exposure to BMAA and MCLR alters behavior in adult zebrafish”, Mentor: Kurt Marsden, PhD
    • Rachel Tippett, “A γ-aminobutyric acid-mediated acoustic startle circuit may regulate acoustic hypersensitivity in cyfip2 Danio rerio”, Mentor: Kurt Marsden, PhD
    • Bri Ryerson, “Using biological adhesives as a hypoallergenic alternative to current semi-permanent cosmetic adhesives”, Mentor: Christopher Gorman, PhD
    • Karen Kaiser, “Comparison of DNA preservation methods in mosquitoes: DNA/RNA Shield outperforms alternatives”, Mentor: Jennifer Baltzegar, PhD
    • Joseph Majual, “The presence and role of Cadps in peptidergic nociceptors innervating mice skin”, Mentor: Javier Lopez Soto, PhD
    • Hunter Epps, “Expression of an insulin-like peptide in Drosophila“, Mentor: Patricia Estes, PhD
    • Mary Lynch, “Association between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in blood and bone mass in participants from the GenX exposure study”, Mentor: Jane Hoppin, PhD
    • Aaron Reid, “The role of environmental and production factors in the prevalence of Vibrio in retail seafood across North Carolina”, Mentor: Siddhartha Thakur, PhD
    • Dhvani Soni, “The role of RhoA/Rock mediated cell contractility for G1/S progression in the cell cycle”, Mentor: Christophe Guilluy, PhD

 

Questions? Contact bioscihonors@ncsu.edu