Education section
Harvard offers a wealth of opportunities for undergraduates who are interested in the life sciences. Five departments – Biological Anthropology, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Psychology– collaborate to provide a vast array of courses and research experiences. All students, regardless of their future concentration, are encouraged to take the foundation courses Life Sciences 1a and 1b, which provide an interdisciplinary introduction to the life sciences. This foundation allows students to then pursue their more focused interests in any of eight life sciences concentrations, which span the range from the more physical to the more social ends of the intellectual spectrum.
The life sciences cluster consists of the following concentrations: Chemical and Physical Biology, Chemistry, Human Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Neurobiology, the Biological Anthropology track in Anthropology, and the Social and Cognitive Neurosciences track in Psychology. All of the life sciences concentrations emphasize research and encourage students to participate in original research in faculty laboratories. In addition to faculty mentors, a team of Life Sciences Concentration Advisors are available to assist students with questions about courses and concentration planning.
For more information about undergraduate education in the life sciences, please visit the Undergraduate Education site.
In the 21st century, groundbreaking research and discovery in the life sciences are more interdisciplinary than ever, and students studying within the life sciences today can expect to work with a wider range of scientists and scholars than their predecessors could ever have imagined. Recognizing this approach to scientific advancement, in 2004 Harvard created the Integrated Life Sciences (HILS) Graduate Program, which oversees all PhD education in the life sciences.
HILS is a federation of Harvard life sciences PhD programs, departments, and subject areas that facilitates cross disciplinary academic and research collaboration, supports student mobility, and encourages extracurricular participation by its student, faculty, and staff members.
HILS integrates 12 life sciences graduate programs and subject areas across four Harvard faculties: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Dental School, the Medical School, and the School of Public Health. This new structure allows the examination of emerging trends in the life sciences, and allows Harvard to respond rapidly to the world’s evolving scientific landscape—including the need for new interdisciplinary areas of study such as the recently launched PhD programs in chemical biology and systems biology. Says Harvard University Provost Steven E. Hyman, “This important step strengthens Harvard’s competitive advantage by making the resources of the whole University available to our students."
For more information see the Harvard Integrated Life Sciences site .
The Life Sciences Division, in conjunction with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, offers a variety of programs for high school biology teachers and their students. Some programs expand the knowledge of teachers by providing a conduit to the latest scientific research and educational technology.
Other programs expose high school students to experimental biology in a laboratory setting. The broad objective of Life Sciences-HHMI High School Outreach Program is to excite students and teachers about doing science and to encourage their further exploration of the life sciences.
For more information visit the Outreach Program site.