Spring 2025 Special Topics & Capstone Courses
See the Supplemental Course List for your curriculum to learn how the course will count toward your degree.
Capstone Courses
BIO 483 – Developmental Neurobiology
In this course we will explore how the amazing and complex nervous system arises from just a single cell. We will discuss the origins of the many different kinds of cells that make up the brain and how they are put together to create this incredible organ that drives all of our thoughts, emotions, and actions. We will cover the major events in neural development, including cell differentiation and migration, axon guidance and targeting, and synapse formation and plasticity, as well as how disruptions to these processes can lead to neurological and psychiatric disease.
Contact Dr. Kurt Marsden (kcmarsde@ncsu.edu) for more information.
BIO 484 – Lead Exposure and Human Health
This seminar based course will examine the impact of lead on human health with regard to sources of exposures, exposure reduction techniques, public health responses to lead exposure, and review of the human health effects of this ubiquitous environmental contaminant. Guest speakers will include people from public health agencies, communities dealing with lead exposure in their neighborhood, and active researchers. This course will provide an introduction to environmental health through the lens of lead exposure. Students interested in environmental science, public health, epidemiology, statistics, global public health, and toxicology are welcome.
Contact Dr. Jane Hoppin (jahoppin@ncsu.edu) for more information.
Special Topics Courses
BSC 295 (056) – The Science of Happiness
What does it mean to be happy? In this course, we will examine the biological factors that contribute to happiness. We will adopt a broad evolutionarily-based perspective exploring research and data on what makes people happy. Our readings and discussions will cover current hypotheses and studies spanning genetics, physiology, endocrinology, neuroscience, and clinical and medical research.
BSC 295 (057) – The Many Faces of Water
Explore water from subatomic particles to across the cosmos and all the way into our own backyards!! Join over a dozen professors spanning NC State to explore the biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and humanity of water.
BSC 295 (071) – Biodiversity in a Changing World
Earth is currently experiencing a biodiversity crisis of significant magnitude. Species losses are radically changing the landscape in which we live. This course challenges students to consider the importance of biodiversity, its significance to us, how it’s studied, and what we can do as citizens, scientists, and educators to minimize the loss.
BSC 295 (072) – Physics of the Brain
All biological processes operate under the rules of physics. We will use the brain, with its electrical circuits composed of living cells, to investigate how physics shapes biology. This course will be taught studio-style, with a mixture of lectures, group activities, and hands-on laboratory experiments. Students will gain an understanding of how fundamental physics principles underlie brain function in general, and the sense of hearing more specifically.
Prerequisite: MA 107 or 111 or 121 or 131 or 108 or 141 with a C- or better, or 480 on the SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 or the NCSU Math Skills Test.
Email Dr. Christa Baker (cbaker5@ncsu.edu) for more information.
GGA 295 – Genes, Race, and Society (Approved GEP US DEI)
In this course, students will:
- Examine the historical development of theories of “race” in the Western world as applied to human social institutions
- Develop a basic understanding of the principles of evolutionary/population biology, genetics, and taxonomy as they relate to anthropology
MEA 493 (002) – Paleoceanography
Humans haven’t been around to observe and measure our oceans for most of Earth’s history. For that there is Paleoceanography. This course will provide an overview of the oceans and their occupants before modern measurements.
NTR 495 (001) – Global Nutrition
NTR 495 (601) – Nutrition for the Older Adult
NTR 495 (602) – Food Insecurity and Federal Nutrition Programs
MEA 493 (003) – Genetics for Marine Science
ES 425 – Water Quality and Health
FW 495 – Genetics for Wildlife Management
FW 495 – Ornithology