Biology

At Lawrence you won’t just study biology; you will do biology.

One of our largest majors at Lawrence, the biology program’s coursework and collaborative research with faculty will help you study and apply your talents to create new knowledge. Experimental work increases in sophistication as you flex your creative muscles and synthesize new information with previous discoveries.

Since biological entities span a range from macromolecules such as DNA and proteins within cells, to organs such as animal hearts or plant leaves, to entire ecosystems, you’ll be exposed to the breadth of biology through courses, labs, local and global field experiences and research. Your path toward the major will be unique.

You might enjoy biology if you're interested in...

Understanding how living things work
Understanding how living things interact with their environments and with each other
Conducting research with others and on your own
Human health and public health
Ecology, animal behavior, plant biology, marine biology
Genetics, cell biology, microbiology, molecular biology, immunology, and more!

Lawrentians sometimes pair biology with...

Life After Lawrence

Lawrentians enjoy careers in...

Research (recent areas include molecular genetics, marine biology, human genetics, and more), medicine (cardiology, radiology, pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, sports medicine, and more), wildlife biology, nursing, veterinary medicine, physical therapy, sports medicine, genetic research, education (elementary, secondary, collegiate), biotechnology, hospital administration, law, marine biology

Recent employers include...

Mayo Clinic, 3M, U.S.D.A., U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, New Jersey State Academy for Aquatic Sciences, Shaw Group (environmental consulting), Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries, University of California-San Diego

Lawrentians earn advanced degrees in...

Marine biology, biology, biotechnology, ecology, medicine, microbiology, veterinary medicine, nursing, dentistry, law, physical therapy, business

Recent schools include...

(MD) Dartmouth, Mayo Clinic, Medical College of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Utah; (DDS) Iowa, Louisville, Marquette and Michigan; (PhD) Boston University, Chicago, Emory, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Penn State, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Wash U, University of Washington, UC-Riverside, Wisconsin; (DVM) Minnesota, Wisconsin; (MPH) Columbia, Duke, Emory, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Wake Forest

Get research experience from day one

In your first year, you’ll work in small groups with faculty members on a co-designed research project, building skills in experimental design and implementation, data analysis and scientific presentation. You'll build on this with courses covering the diversity of organisms and experimental design and analysis, followed by more research opportunities through upper-level courses and Lawrence University Research Fellowships.

Dive deeper with the Lawrence University Marine Term Program

Marine biology at a land-locked college? Yes! Take courses on coral reef ecology, environmental microbiology and ecological energetics, and spend two weeks on a Caribbean island, diving to undertake a census of coral reef biodiversity and complete a self-designed research project.

Explore ecology, cell biology, and genetics

With upper level courses in aquatic ecology, terrestrial ecology and plant ecology you can sample lakes and rivers and search for bats and bugs in fields and woodlands. In cell biology, you will create a portfolio of images using our confocal microscope (check out the video below). In genetics you can map genes and fingerprint DNA.

Share your research during BioFest: Senior Symposium

What biology topic are you especially passionate about—dance-based physical therapy, dental abnormalities, fungi soil remediation... or something else we haven't explored yet? At BioFest you will communicate your research to the Lawrence campus and Appleton community in the format of your choice, such as a research poster, sculpture, website, or podcast. (And it will become part of your post-Lawrence portfolio.)

The Biology Curriculum

Integrative Biology:
Cells to Organisms
Integrative Biology:
Organisms to Ecosystems

Integrative Biology:
Experimental Design and Statistics
Principles of Chemistry: Energetics and Dynamics

At least seven courses in intermediate and upper-level biology, at least five of which must be lab courses
Completion of Biology Senior Experience.

Course descriptions and more courses

The Chandler Senior Experience

Purposeful advising in spring of sophomore year, and attendance at BioFest will spark you to think about what you want to undertake for your culminating project. At a weekend Björklunden retreat during junior year, you’ll brainstorm project ideas and further sharpen your focus. Internships, LU Research Experiences and tutorials may shape your project further, which you’ll launch prior to Term II of your senior year. (More about Biology Senior Experience available in the Course Catalog.)

A sample of recent Senior Experience projects:

(all designed by Lawrentians with their professors)

Fox Valley Bat Detectives: Using Citizen Science Acoustic Bat Monitoring to Understand Local Bat Activity

The Effect of Hierarchical Relationship on Social Behavior in a Troop of Japanese Macaques

A Secret to the Synapse? Investigating Targets of the Transcription Factor, DAF-19, in the Nervous System of C. elegans.

Effects of Toxic Cyanobacteria on Feeding and Reproduction Ecology of a Copepod from Green Bay, Lake Michigan

Navajo Tea: A Traditional Navajo Medicine and a Promising Cancer Therapeutic

Hands-only CPR in India

Faculty

Bart T. De Stasio

Dennis and Charlot Nelson Singleton Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-6727

Email: bart.t.destasio@lawrence.edu

Education: Lawrence University, B.A.; University of Rhode Island; Cornell University, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Postdoctoral Researcher

Interests: evolutionary ecology, aquatic biology, predator-prey interactions

Campus Address: Youngchild Hall Room 307 Biology

CV: http://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/professor_bart_de_stasio

Years at Lawrence: 1988-89, 1992-
Elizabeth Ann De Stasio

Raymond H. Herzog Professor of Science and Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-7682

Email: elizabeth.a.destasio@lawrence.edu

Education: Lawrence University, B.A.; Brown University, Ph.D.; University of Wisconsin Madison, postdoctoral fellow

Interests: interactions of biological molecules, evolution

Campus Address: Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 331 Biology

Website: http://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/beth_de_stasio

CV: http://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/beth_de_stasio/curriculum_vitae

Years at Lawrence: 1988-89; 1992-
Israel Del Toro

Assistant Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-7213

Email: israel.deltoro@lawrence.edu

Education: University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009-2014, M.Sc., Ph.D. University of Copenhagen, Denmark- 2014-2016, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Interests: Community Ecology, Biodiversity Science, Biogeography

Campus Address: Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 333 Biology

Website: http://www.ideltoro.org/

CV: http://www.ideltoro.org/cv.html

Years at Lawrence: 2016-
Kimberly Dickson

Associate Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-7039

Email: kimberly.dickson@lawrence.edu

Education: Smith College, B.A.; Johns Hopkins University. M.S.; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D.

Interests: protein structure and function

Campus Address: Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 334 Biology

Years at Lawrence: 2007-
Cindy Lee Duckert

Lecturer of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-6914

Email: cindy.l.duckert@lawrence.edu

Education: California Institute of Technology, Engineering, 1977

Interests: science communication, informal science education

Campus Address: Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 335 Biology

Years at Lawrence: 2011 - -
Alyssa S. Hakes

Assistant Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-6926

Email: alyssa.s.hakes@lawrence.edu

Education: Ph.D. Louisiana State University B.S. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Interests: spatial ecology, herbivory, plant defense

Campus Address: Youngchild Hall Room 308 Biology

Website: http://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/alyssa_hakes

CV: http://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/alyssa_hakes/curriculum_vitae

Years at Lawrence: 2012-
Judith Humphries

Associate Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-7268

Email: judith.humphries@lawrence.edu

Education: The Queen’s University of Belfast, B.S., Ph.D.

Interests: parasitology, invertebrate immunology, gene regulation, snail neurobiology

Campus Address: Youngchild Hall Room 306 Biology

Website: https://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/judith_humphries

CV: http://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/judith_humphries/curriculum-vitae

Years at Lawrence: 2007-
Brian P. Piasecki

Assistant Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-7161

Email: brian.p.piasecki@lawrence.edu

Education: University of North Texas, B.S.; University of Texas at Austin, M.A.; University of Minnesota, Ph.D.; Karolinska Institute, Postdoctoral Fellow

Interests: cell & molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and microbiology

Campus Address: Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 330 Biology

Website: https://www.lawrence.edu/academics/study/biology/collaborative/brian_piasecki

Years at Lawrence: 2011 -
Relena R. Ribbons

Instructor of Biology

Email: relena.r.ribbons@lawrence.edu

Education: University of Copenhagen, joint Ph.D. Forestry, Geosciences, and Natural Resources Conservation (2017) University of Bangor, joint Ph.D. Forestry, Geosciences, and Natural Resources Management(2017)

Interests: Biogeochemistry, Soil biology, Forest ecology, Ecosystem and Community ecology, Dendrochronology

Campus Address: Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 134 Freshman Studies

Website: http://relenaribbons.weebly.com/

Years at Lawrence: 2016-
Jodi Sedlock

Associate Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-7058

Email: jodi.sedlock@lawrence.edu

Education: Loyola University, B.A., B.S.; University of Illinois-Chicago, Ph.D.

Interests: tropical diversity, conservation biology, ecosystem services, sensory ecology, bat ecology

Campus Address: Youngchild Hall Room 305 Biology

Years at Lawrence: 2002-
Nancy A. Wall

Associate Professor of Biology

Campus Phone: 920-832-7360

Email: nancy.a.wall@lawrence.edu

Education: Presbyterian College, B.S.; University of South Carolina, M.A.; Vanderbilt University, Ph.D.

Interests: neural development, pattern formation, differentiation,

Campus Address: Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 332 Biology

CV: http://www2.lawrence.edu/biology/walln/CV13-14.docx

Years at Lawrence: 1995-