Students taking water samples out at CERA

Biology

Think like a biologist.

As a biology major at Grinnell, the world is your laboratory. You’ll join other creative thinkers in an innovative program that encourages you to study multiple disciplines and think like a biologist from day one. You’ll conduct research, design and execute investigations, interpret data, and communicate your findings. As you explore a broad spectrum of sub-disciplines, you’ll enhance your ability to read and write scientific literature, think independently, work collaboratively, and prepare for advanced study or a career in medicine, research, education, environmental science, health, and many other fields.

Navigating our curriculum: Questions, answers, and information to help students successfully choose courses in Biology.

Why Study Biology?

  • Student doing research in a field at CERA

    RESEARCH-DRIVEN

    Benefit from faculty research and create your own study.

    As a biology major at Grinnell, the world is your laboratory. You’ll learn from dedicated faculty who not only offer cutting-edge research experiences, but also incorporate their research into coursework. You’ll conduct your own research — designing and executing investigations, interpreting data, and communicating findings as you explore a broad spectrum of sub-disciplines in biology.

  • Students wade in creek

    LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

    Gain the skills to not only succeed, but also to lead.

    Through research opportunities and in-class study, you’ll enhance your ability to read and write scientific literature, think independently, work collaboratively, and develop the critical thinking skills and confidence needed to become an effective leader. Your work will prepare you for advanced study or a career in medicine, research, education, environmental science, health, and many other fields.

  • Queenster Nartey ’16 and Shannon Hinsa-Leasure in the lab

    COLLABORATIVE STUDY

    Develop knowledge from diverse perspectives.

    You’ll join other creative thinkers in an innovative program that encourages you to study multiple disciplines and think like a biologist from day one. This collaborative approach means you’ll learn to work effectively in groups, and to lead them as well. You’ll come to understand the importance of diverse voices, ideas, and ways of thinking in biology, and in all aspects of life.

Research

Collage of Africa map, Namib Sand Sea, bunchgrass, and researchers

Grass-Fungal Symbiotic Relationships in the Namib Sand Sea

Fungal Biologist Kathy Jacobson

Jacobson has been studying fungi in the Namib Sand Sea for 30 years, but her recent work focuses on fungi that are given life by the fog.

Collage of Lindgren and students, graphs, and proteins at the neuromuscular junction

Finding the Message Essential to Neuron-Muscle Signal Transmission

Neuroscientist Clark Lindgren

“All you can do is keep trying to disprove [your hypothesis]. … Every time you don’t disprove it, you gain more confidence in your hypothesis.”

Andrew Graham and Seth Van Helten sampling groundwater near a capped pipe and stump

The Surprising Way that the Neurotoxin Methylmercury is Degraded

Environmental Chemist Andrew Graham

"At its worst, high mercury consumption causes Minamata disease, which is characterized by paralysis, tremors, and death."

Alumni Stories

Sophie Mero
Sophie Mero ’22 Takes on the World

From the classroom, to research, to an internship in India, Sophie Mero’s passion for biology has taken her on a beautiful journey toward a fulfilling career.

Department News

tent at farmers market
Academics

Market Science Program: Engaging the Community Through Research

This program, spearheaded by Grinnell summer-research students and their faculty mentors within the Science Division, brings scientific research directly to the Grinnell Farmer’s Market.
A black man with glasses resting atop his head peers through a microscope in a dark room.
Academics

Lafontant Wins Fulbright Scholar Grant to Sri Lanka

Pascal Lafontant, professor of biology, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar Grant to conduct developmental biology research in Sri Lanka during the 2024-25 academic year.
Looking out the front window of a jeep on a game drive, with a young woman sitting in the front seat.
Academics

From Savanna to Permafrost: GLP Students Track the Origins of Disease

Students in the Spring 2024 Global Learning Program Course Emerging Infectious Diseases traveled to South Africa and Alaska to conduct fieldwork at the forefront of disease ecology.

Biology Career Outcomes

First Destinations

  • 64% Employment
  • 21% Graduate School
  • 6% Post-Graduate Service
  • 3% Fellowships
  • 1% Continuing Education
  • 4% Other

Employment

97%
Positions related to Career Goals

Positions Related to Career Goals

This graph illustrates the extent to which our graduates' first job is aligned with their career goals. It's one thing to find a job; it's an entirely different thing to land the job you want!

Employer

  • Boston Children's Hospital
  • Discovery Biomed
  • Idaho Fish & Game
  • Mayo Clinic
  • Scattergood Friends School
  • Tracy Aviary
  • UnityPoint Health
  • Washington University in St. Louis

Graduate Schools

79%
79% Accepted to 1st- or 2nd- choice programs

Graduate School Acceptance Info

Of those who applied to and were accepted to at least one program, this chart illustrates the percentage of admitted students who were accepted to either their first or second choice program and institution.

Institutions

  • Cornell University
  • Rosalind Franklin University
  • Tufts University
  • University of Colorado
  • University of Illinois
  • Vanderbilt University
Explore More Graduate Outcomes

From The Biology Newsletter

Crys, a young person with curly short hair, wears a black shirt and smiles in front of a wooden background.

The best work that we can do for the environment, for nature and wildlife, and for each other, is get involved with the local communities because that is where the impact of our work can be seen.

Crys Moosman ’21
Cassey stands under a blooming cherry blossom tree and holds her dog. She is wearing a denim dress and has her long hair down.

It’s a physician’s role to look beyond the analytics and think ‘What does this feel like to the patient and family? What does a longer wait time mean for future care?’

Cassey Koid ’11
Pascal Lafontant points to a computer screen, while a student follows his gesture. Both wear face masks. They are in his laboratory.

If you have taken a class with Professor Lafontant, you may have picked up on a sense of what he calls wonderment. Wonderment is a word that reflects his belief that the whole world of science is fascinating.

Cosette Rhoads ’23
Caroline stands in front of the Pacific Ocean, with mountains in the background. She wears a black shirt and is smiling at the camera.

My work allows me to better see the connection between the research realm and the more human part of the world. In my current position, I am able to work towards making science more relevant for policy and decision making, and I find those goals to be a lot more tangible.

Caroline Graham ’16
Dr. Landau stands in his lab and holds a petri dish. He is wearing glasses and a light purple button down shirt.

The experience of learning how to think scientifically can help develop a person's critical thinking skills. Scientific inquiry helps people differentiate between things that are real and things that are not real. 

Nathaniel Landau ’77

Department Chair

Joshua C. Sandquist

Contact Information

Phone
641-269-3172
Fax
641-269-4984

Noyce Science Center
1116 Eighth Ave
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States

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