Dr. Robert Kirken,

Department Chair

Welcome to the Department of Biological Sciences. The Department is housed in the Engineering-Science Complex of the University. The Biology Building contains some 48,000 square feet of teaching and research space. The Department serves over 700 bioscience majors and in a typical semester enrolls approximately 3,500 students in about 40 courses. Laboratories contain state-of-the-art equipment for both research and teaching. The instructional program makes extensive use of facilities available only for research at most comparably-sized universities. Construction continues on the new Biosciences Building adjacent to the present Biology Building.

The Department offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biological Sciences and undergraduate majors in Biological Sciences, Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry, and in Microbiology.  It also contributes to undergraduate interdisciplinary majors in Life and Earth Sciences and in Natural Sciences.

The curriculum of the Department, with its various degree options, provides opportunities for a wide range of specializations. Most students concentrate in either systematics, ecology, and population biology on the one hand or in cell, molecular, and microbiology on the other, though overlap among these disciplines is welcomed and encouraged. All faculty in the Department are actively engaged in research, providing ample opportunity for undergraduate as well as graduate student participation. The University's location in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert and the Rio Grande Valley provides a fascinating setting for learning and research in habitats ranging from desert to alpine mountain ranges. The El Paso-Ciudad Juárez metroplex has a population of nearly 2 million people, presenting environmental challenges and public health problems characteristic of both industrialized and developing societies. The majority of research programs in the Department are focused toward the biomedical and environmental problems of the region.