Skip to main content

Biology Student Resources

Biology students at Saint Louis University are encouraged to round out their educations by participating in co-curricular activities.

Social and academic organizations and opportunities can further your interest in biology while exposing you to its relationship with other scientific disciplines.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

All SLU biology majors have the chance to gain first-hand experience working on exciting projects in diverse areas of life sciences research. Many of our undergraduates have been co-authors on published scientific papers.

Learn More About Undergraduate Biology Research

Biology Department Awards

Each year, the department presents awards to graduating undergraduate biology majors and graduate students.  Students are nominated by faculty for these awards, which are presented each spring at the departmental awards ceremony and include a monetary prize.  Recent award winners include:

Undergraduate awards:

  • James D. Collins Award for Excellence in Student Academic Achievement/Biology Outstanding Senior Award:  Wes Schoenthal (2019); Maggie Mumm (2018); Paul Sylvester (2017); Lauren Grant (2016)
  • Dr. Judith Z. Medoff Undergraduate Teaching Award:  Shivika Ahuja and Natalie Jarvis (2019); Trace Jones (2018); Matt Cormier (2017); Matt Hirabayashi and Zisansha Zahirsha (2016)
  • Dr. Elizabeth J. Keath Undergraduate Research Award:  Theresa Schneider (2019); Alex Benben (2018);  Srikrishna Vangipuram (2017); Ajay Chatrath (2016)

Graduate awards: 

  • Graduate Research Award:  Amanda Eccardt and Amanda Sebesta (2019); Dowen Jocson (2018); Laura Klein and Justin Zweck (2017); Ameair Abu Irqeba and Ryan Thoni (2016)
  •  Graduate Teaching Award:  Michael MacKillop and Katie Phelps (2019); Shannon Kelly (2018); Genevieve Hilliard (2017)

Beta Beta Beta, Iota Chi Chapter


Saint Louis University's Iota Chi chapter of Beta, Beta, Beta, the national biological honor society, was founded in 1969. Activities explore the biological sciences and are an excellent way to become more acquainted with your professors and meet other motivated students with an interest in biology.

Beta, Beta, Beta on SLUGroups

Biology Advising

Once you declare biology as a major at SLU, you are assigned a biology faculty member as a mentor. The following guidelines and resources will help you plan for your advising sessions:

  • Check Banner to see who your faculty mentor is and for course offerings each semester. Biology course descriptions are also available for your reference.
  • Determine a written tentative schedule of the courses for which you will be registering and bring it to your advising session.
  • Print out your current Banner transcript and/or your degree audit. This may help you determine what requirements you have already completed and those you still need to fulfill.
  • Refer to our list of biology requirements. Taking all of these printouts to your advising session to refer to may be helpful, as well.

Biology Career Development

Many SLU biology graduates go on to major medical, dental, optometry, veterinary and graduate schools. Other biology graduates become professional researchers in various agencies and corporations.

Research opportunities with the federal government include the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Office of Naval Research and NASA.

A number of major companies, including Monsanto, Sigma Chemical and Mallinckrodt, also conduct biological research right here in the St. Louis area.

Institutional research, often affiliated with private or public universities and philanthropic foundations, offers a variety of research and development opportunities. Some of these facilities are the Argonne, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos Laboratories, as well as the Smithsonian Institute and American Museum of Natural History.

Other employment opportunities for biology graduates include positions at museums, zoological and botanical gardens, hospitals, and various agencies. Graduates may also pursue careers in education, business, and sales and management with chemical, pharmaceutical or scientific equipment manufacturers.

Summer Research and Internship Powerpoint 

Applying to Graduate School Powerpoint

Biology Academic Honesty

The Department of Biology recognizes that nearly all of our students are extremely honest individuals who work very hard to obtain the best grades that they can in their course work. In an effort to protect these students from the very small group of students that may engage in dishonest practices, the department has adopted a zero-tolerance policy with regard to cheating on exams, plagiarism in the preparation of assignments and/or collusion to carry out any of the above.

During exams, quizzes or any other activities in which a grade is being assigned or points toward the course are being assessed, if the instructor or an exam proctor observes you cheating, your exam, quiz or paper will be collected and you will receive a grade of zero for that exam or activity. The score for this exam or activity cannot be dropped from the calculation of your final grade for the course.

During exams, quizzes or any other activities in which a grade is being assigned or points toward the course are being assessed, if the instructor or an exam proctor observes behavior that is indicative of cheating, you will be given a warning to modify your behavior. If you fail to heed the instructor's advice or persist in this activity, your exam (or paper) will be collected and you will receive a grade of zero for that exam (or activity) that cannot be dropped from the calculation of your final grade for the course.

If, in the preparation of written assignments for the course, you engage in any plagiarism or in any manner falsely represent the work of others as your own, you will be given a grade of zero for that assignment. Again, the score for this assignment cannot be dropped from the calculation of your final grade for the course.

Your actions with regard to any of the above matters will be documented in writing and reported to the chairman of the biology department and the appropriate associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. The chairman and dean reserve the right to report the matter to the Committee on Academic Honesty. In the case of collusion however, the matter will, without question, be reported to the Committee on Academic Honesty as this represents a "Class B" violation (see College of Arts and Sciences Policy on Academic Honesty). The process for appeals is also outlined in this text.