BSC Graduate Courses

Available BSC Graduate Courses

See the graduate calendar for pre-requisite information and course number. Note, not all of these courses are not offered every year, some are offered based on student interest, and some are cross listed from other departments.

• Ichthyology:. Anatomy, physiology, ecology, zoogeography, economic importance and classification of major groups and representative local species of fishes.
• Economic Botany: Plants used by man for food, ornamental purposes, building materials, textiles and other industrial purposes: economic importance of conservation.
• Ornithology: An introduction to avian biology: Identification, distribution, migration and breeding activities of birds.
• Herpetology: A survey of the reptiles and amphibians of the world with special emphasis placed on forms resident to West Virginia including aspects of zoogeography, morphology, taxonomy, and behavior. 2 lec-4 lab.
• Mammalogy: Study of morphology, evolution and classification, zoogeography, ecology, economic importance; survey techniques and recognition of native mammals of West Virginia.
• Digital Image Processing/GIS Model: A study of image processing/geographic information/spatial analysis systems, concurrent and parallel image processing 3-D modeling scenarios utilizing geophysical data for computer simulation modeling.
• Principles of Organic Evolution: The facts and possible mechanisms underlying the unity and diversity of life with emphasis on Neo-Darwinian concepts of the role of species in evolutionary phenomena.
• Plant Taxonomy: Identification and classification of seed plants and ferns of eastern United States. Readings in history and principles of taxonomy, rules of nomenclature and related topics.
• Biostatistics: Statistical skills for biological/biomedical research, with emphasis on applications. Experimental design/survey sampling, estimation/hypothesis testing procedures, regression, ANOVA, multiple comparisons. Implementation using statistical software such as SAS, BMDP.
• Plant Physiology: Experimental study of plant life processes to include applicable biophysical and biochemical principles, water relations, molecular biology, stress physiology, and growth and development.
• Animal Physiology: Physiological principles operating in the organ systems of vertebrate animals.
• Biosystematics: Biosystematics is a unifying discipline that combines taxonomy (collecting, describing and naming organisms), phylogenetics (evolutionary relationships among species), and classification (organization of taxa into groups which ultimately reflect evolutionary relationship.
• Animal Parasitology: Morphology, life histories, classification, and host relationships of common parasites.
• Plant Ecology: The study of plants and their interactions with their environment at different levels of ecological organization: individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems. Emphasis on quantitative analysis of ecological data.
• Limnology: The study of inland waters; ecological factors affecting lake and stream productivity and various aquatic communities.
• Microbial Genetics: Microbial Genetics covers the essential functions of DNA replication and gene expression in prokaryotic cells. The course includes molecular genetics of bacteria and phages, bioinformatics and discussion of laboratory techniques.
• Genes and Development: An in-depth study of the genetic mechanisms of complex organismal development including cell specification, induction and morphogenesis.
• Molecular Biology: Advanced principles in molecular function emphasizing current research using recombinant DNA methodology.
• Conservation of Forests, Soil and Wildlife: Primarily for students in the biological sciences, general and applied sciences. Includes fieldwork, seminars, and demonstrations related to conservation.
• Applied Microscopy in Research: A combined lecture/lab/self-motivated research course that results in a microscopy-based project to be presented by each student at an open forum (can augment thesis project).
• Intermediate Biochemistry: A survey course including introduction to basic biochemical concepts, bioenergetics and information transfer.
• Advanced Vertebrate Morphology: AVM is an intensive, laboratory-based course in vertebrate morphology. Core responsibilities include detailed dissection and comparative cranial osteology. Each student must complete an independent dissection project and term paper.
• Introductory Graduate Seminar: Topics relevant to preparation for a career in the life sciences including: literature mining and interpretation, scientific ethics, preparation and delivery of scientific presentations, and career development tools.
• Seminar I: In depth group discussion of current biological issues.
• Seminar II: Oral presentation of individual topics.
• Problem Report: Preparation and completion of a written report from experimental or field research in biological sciences.
• SpTp: Topics in Integrated Physiology: In depth group discussion of current research areas in physiology.
• SpTp: Topics in Animal Behavior: The goals of this course are to provide you with an overall view of classical and hypothesis based animal behavior, and apply this knowledge towards understanding current, cutting edge, research problems in animal behavior.
• SpTp: Current Topics in Neuroscience: The goals of this course are first to give a basic grounding in fundamental cellular and systems neuroscience, and apply this knowledge towards understanding current, cutting edge, research and medical problems.
• SpTp: Molecular Medicine: This course focuses on the exploration of molecular mechanisms behind health and disease (especially genetic diseases); new therapies and tests based on molecular technology; and emerging diseases discovered and studies using molecular tools.
• SpTp: Natural History Of Amphibians And Reptiles Journal Club: Amphibian and Reptile Natural History Journal Club is a discussion-oriented course that uses peer-reviewed literature as a base for understanding what natural history involves.
• SpTp: Conservation Journal Club: Conservation Journal Club is a discussion-oriented course that uses peer-reviewed literature as a base for understanding what conservation involves. While emphasis will be on amphibians and reptiles, other taxa will be considered to determine the importance of the conservation of all species.
• SpTp: Herpetology Journal Club: A journal-review course designed to improve student ability to review, critique, and synthesize scientific literature (pertaining to amphibian declines and monitoring efforts) orally and in writing.
• SpTp: Cell Biology and Biotechnology: This course is designed to allow in-depth exploration of one of a variety of topics of current interest in the field. The general topic will be designated by the instructor. A variety of formats may be used, including lecture, presentations, papers, and discussion.
• SpTp: Signal Transduction in Skeletal Muscle: This is a discussion based course where the students will take turns presenting and discussing papers from the primary literature.