Take advantage of year-round research to earn your biology degree
The biology program at Eckerd College will teach you to think like a scientist, solving problems in new ways. Classes are small and our faculty attentive so by the time you graduate, your professors will know you well enough to write powerful recommendations for grad school or jobs.
Want to do original research? All you have to do is ask.
Only@Eckerd
More attention
Every Eckerd professor is available to students for a minimum of 8 hours a week – twice that of most other schools. That means closer relationships and better learning.
Hands-on learning
Use advanced equipment like our Zeiss AxioImager M2 Microscope with Apotome 2 optical sectioning and ADI physiology data acquisition kits, which can be used for everything from heart rate recordings to measuring the neural activity of a cockroach.
Year-round research
Our subtropical setting in Florida means lots of opportunities for biology field research virtually all year long. Nearby Tampa Bay is a scientific hub that includes hospitals, biomedical labs, federal and state agencies and research libraries.
In Their Own Words
“Studying biology at Eckerd is awesome because you have so many opportunities; opportunities to do research and opportunities to learn to solve problems in a different way. For instance, my freshman year I walked into Dr. Flaherty‘s office and asked to do research in her lab. Minutes later I was in the lab learning important skills.”
—Julia Tanquary ’17
Patent intern, NSF graduate research fellow, Ph.D. candidate
Beyond the Classroom
Work side by side with full-time professors to study how supplements might improve the cellular pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease or investigate how the smallest microbes influence the physiology of corals and other cnidarians.
Bio internships range from All Children’s Hospital, Egmont Key and Boyd Hill Nature Preserve to the Human Genetics Lab at Mass General, run by a Harvard Med School prof and Eckerd grad.
- There’s no shortage of things to clean in the Gulf of Mexico. Join one of our coastal cleanup projects or volunteer with Tampa Bay Watch.
- Choose from Alternative Spring Break service trips such as “Spiritual Environmentalism” in Puerto Rico and “Pollution Education” in the Bahamas.
Three-week Winter Term classes have studied tropical ethnobotany in Belize and the history of science in London.
Study Abroad Pics on FlickrEckerd College Biology news
- Eckerd College offers public health minor for students interested in policy, science and health solutions - November 19, 2024
- Eckerd College students perform wellness checks at Horses for Handicapped Foundation - November 7, 2024
- Shore patrol—Eckerd College Seabird Stewardship class helps protect threatened shorebirds - June 18, 2024
- Eckerd College introduces public health minor geared for fast-growing healthcare industry - May 23, 2024
- Students across majors show off hard work at 2024 Eckerd College Research Symposium - April 11, 2024
- Eckerd College junior soars above an experienced field to earn prestigious grant to study threatened gopher tortoises - March 25, 2024
Popular classes
Genetics & Molecular Biology
This course helps you develop research skills in both classical genetics systems and modern molecular approaches.
Conservation Biology
Examines problems such as species decline, invasion by non-native species, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity, as well as potential solutions.
Facilities
Lab classrooms in the James Center for Molecular and Life Sciences make learning seamless – no need to cart your backpack down the hall for lab – and the coffee shop in the lobby keeps those neurons firing.
Bio classes also make use of our new greenhouse, campus palm hammock and the local intercoastal waterways.
Outcomes
What can I do with a biology degree?
- Biologist or education specialist at an aquarium
- Data analyst
- Field technician in ecology or wildlife biology
- Fishery observer
- Healthcare simulationist
- Lab manager
- Molecular microbiologist
- Neuroscientist
- Physician
- Physician’s associate
- Research associate
- Scientific medical writer
- Scientist in an environmental consulting firm
- Scientist in city, county, state, or federal government agency
- Teacher/educator
- Textbook illustrator
- Veterinarian
- Zookeeper
Where our biology majors go to graduate school
- American University
- Columbia University
- Clemson University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Emory University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Harvard University
- MIT
- Texas A&M University
- Tufts University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Vanderbilt University
Where our biology majors go to work
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
- All Children’s Hospital
- American Cancer Society
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Moffitt Cancer Center
- Tampa Bay Research Institute
- Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments
