The Biology major at Yale is a joint offering of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB). Required coursework includes classes in biology, chemistry, physics, and math, as well as lab work. The EEB department offers courses in conservation biology, human genetic variation and evolution, the history of life, animal behavior, and field ecology. Seniors typically complete a long essay based on original research. Learn more at http://www.eeb.yale.edu/.

Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior

The Department of Classical Languages and Literatures at Yale offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses. Coursework emphasizes the development of an overall knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations in conjunction with intensive language training in Greek and Latin. The interdisciplinary nature of the subject encourages sub-specialties in history, art, philosophy, and linguistics. The undergraduate major emphasizes the development of analytical skills. At the graduate level, a number of combined programs are offered. Learn more at http://www.yale.edu/classics

Introduction to Ancient Greek History

Founded in 2003, the Department of Biomedical Engineering constitutes one of Yale’s youngest but also most rapidly expanding departments. With an emphasis on the merger of the disciplines of engineering and biology, the department trains students to use biomedical tools to better understand human physiology and pathology and to develop new tools for disease treatment and prevention. Courses are taught by professors and research scientists and typically involve both classroom and laboratory work in a state-of-the-art space. Learn more at http://www.med.yale.edu/bme/

Frontiers of Biomedical Engineering

The Department of Astronomy at Yale offers a wide range of courses in astronomy, physics, and mathematics. Coursework and research focus on observational and theoretical discoveries, and both undergraduate and graduate students are provided hands-on opportunities to conduct research at prominent observatories around the world. The Department offers the Ph.D., B.A., and B.S. Learn more at http://www.astro.yale.edu.

Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics

The American Studies program examines, from several perspectives, the development and expressions of a national culture and myriad subcultures, as well as borderland and diasporic cultures. By means of a combination of foundational lecture courses, core seminars, American Studies courses, and courses from relevant disciplines (literature, history, the arts, and the social or behavioral sciences), students in the American Studies program explore diverse aspects of the American experience locally, nationally, and globally. Each student chooses one of five areas of concentration: national formations; the international United States; material cultures and built environments; politics and American communities; and visual, audio, literary, and performance cultures. Learn more at http://www.yale.edu/amstud/.

Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner

The Department of Chemistry at Yale provides a solid background in general chemistry for undergraduates interested in physical and life sciences, pre-medical studies, and related disciplines such as public health; and careers in a wide variety of areas, including science, business, law, and public policy. The chemistry major requires courses in general, organic, physical, and inorganic chemistry, as well as classes in physics and mathematics, with an overall emphasis on quantitative analysis, the scientific method, and intensive laboratory research. Learn more at http://www.chem.yale.edu

Freshman Organic Chemistry I
Freshman Organic Chemistry II

The African American Studies Department examines, from numerous disciplinary perspectives, the experiences of people of African descent in Black Atlantic societies, including the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Courses explore the innovative, complex, and distinctively African American social structures and cultural traditions that Africans in the diaspora have created. Students are exposed to the historical, cultural, political, economic, and social development of people of African descent. Emphasizing a diasporic framework of analysis, the department demands that students acquire both an analytic ability rooted in a traditional discipline and interdisciplinary skills of investigation and research. Learn more at http://www.yale.edu/afamstudies

African American History: From Emancipation to the Present (2010)

Overview

Evolution plays an important though underutilized role in medicine. Evolution guides how our bodies respond to various treatments, how pathogens will respond to treatments, and how pathogens’ responses will change over time. Pathogens oftentimes will evolve to an intermediate level of virulence where they become strong enough to infect a host and reproduce, but not so strong as to kill the host before it can spread the pathogen.

Overview

Coevolution happens at many levels, not just the level of species. Organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts serve as good intracellular examples. Other living things make up a crucial component of an organism’s environment. Coevolution can occur in helpful ways (symbiosis) and in harmful ways (parasitism). Many factors can influence coevolution, such the frequency and degree of interaction.

Overview

The fossil record holds a lot of evolutionary information that can’t be seen on shorter time scales, although the more recent fossil record is more complete. Among other things, the fossil record demonstrates that extinctions can open up ecological space for new speciation and radiation, and that life forms tend to begin small and evolve to be bigger over time.

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