BIOS 100 - Pathways to Success in the Biological Sciences Major

1 credit, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Mon, 2:30 – 3:20 pm, Brace 206, Spring 2025

This is a required course for Biological Sciences majors, best taken during the first semester of enrollment as a declared Biological Sciences Major. The course has three major objectives:

1. Navigating the Major: Aid students in understanding how to navigate the Biological Sciences major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. That includes laying out a course plan, tips for learning, understanding how to get involved in research, and existing engagement and support structures on campus.
2.  Research Experience: Engage in an independent research project asking a question and utilizing data from the National Ecological Observatory Network. Use computer programming skill sets in R to access existing data, wrangle the data, and generate a figure which provides insights into your question and hypothesis.     
3. Career Pathways: Learn about the resources to support pre-health students and the career resources for majors across interests. Hear from panelists on their own career pathways. 

The theme of building your community will be threaded through all three objectives. That will include building community among other majors, but also building a network of faculty and advisors. A standing question throughout the course will be the question, “What excites you about Biology?”. I would even go so far as to say this could be the title of the course. You will find out what excites others about biology, and hopefully along the way you’ll come to understand what excites you about biology.

All students are welcome in this course. All students shall exhibit respect for each other so that we can foster an engaged learning environment. Please communicate barriers to learning, and I will strive to remove them. Together, let us foster an inclusive learning environment.

Instructor

Chad Brassil
cbrassil@unl.edu
Office: 416 Manter Hall

For assistance, book time with Chad Brassil: BIOS 100 Office Hours (be sure to click on the globe in the upper right and confirm you are scheduling it in Central Time). Alternatively, you can drop by my office any time and see if I am available.

Attendance

Much of the learning in this course takes place during class via presentations, discussions, and panels. Your work in the research project as well is supported by others during class meetings. Therefore, in-person attendance is the largest component of the grade in this course at 50%.

Attendance is tracked via name cards. Take your name card (and only your name card) when you arrive to class. Return your name card at the end of class.

Research Project

For about 5 class periods in the middle of the semeter, you will complete an individually-based research project. There will be a set of assignments that build on themselves each week. It is strongly recommended that you stay ahead of the due dates becuase the skill practice each week are built upon in the next week. The small assignments and the final report will be 30% of the total course grade.

Assignments

At various times throughout the semester, small assignments will be posted to Canvas, along with informaiton on their due date. Completion of these assignments will be 20% of the total grade.

Course Letter Grade

This course is graded as Pass / No Pass. To receive a Pass grade, your total course grade needs to be 70% or higher. All scores 70% or higher receive the same Pass grade. This structure is intended to give you the flexibility to engage in this course in a way that works well for you. Nearly all points in this course are completion or particapation based.

Schedule and Topics

See the Modules on the course Home page for the weekly schedule including the list of topics and details on what you should do for each week.

UNL Course Policies and Resources

University-wide policies and resources apply to this course, and all courses at UNL. See details at http://go.unl.edu/coursepolicies.