Programs & Facilities
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The Department sponsors or is affiliated with with a wide range of
programs and facilities that create special
opportunities for research and education. Some of these are described
briefly here, with links to sources of additional information. Bioscience Undergraduate Research Program (BioURP) This state-funded program awards scholarships to outstanding undergraduates and places them in laboratories where they work with graduate students, postdocs and faculty on real research projects. The Program also offers summer research opportunities for high-school students, and a summer program for minority undergraduates. Visit the BioURP page or call (801) 581-5013. Microbial Biology Program This program brings together faculty with the teaching and research expertise to develop new undergraduate and graduate curricula dealing with Bacteria and Archaea and their viruses. The program offers Ph.D. degrees through the Department of Biology. Interested students should apply directly to the Admissions Committee of the Microbial Biology Program. Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) The University of Utah is a member institution of OTS, so our students have priority access to the world-famous OTS courses in tropical ecology, systematics, and conservation, which take place in Costa Rica, Brazil, and Peru. Many graduate students in Biology take these courses and pursue additional tropical research opportunities which are described on the OTS web site. Stable Isotope Ratio Facility for Environmental Research (SIRFER) Stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and other elements are increasingly used as ultra-sensitive ecological and physiological tracers in studies of many kinds. SIRFER serves research and teaching needs for the analysis of stable isotope ratios and offers classes in stable isotope ecology that draw students from around the world. Visit the SIRFER web site or contact Craig Cook (801-581-4654,  ).
Stable Isotope Ecology Summer Course (Biology 7473/7475) This intensive lecture and laboratory course treats the theory and practice of analyzing stable isotopes at natural abundance levels to address questions of ecological and environmental interest. The course is taught during the last two weeks of June by fourteen leading experts. Like the instructors, the students come from all over the world. Enrollment is limited, and applications are accepted through mid-February. Contact Jim Ehleringer  for additional information.Biology Computing Facilities Biology's computing environment consists of 1) an open-access student lab with 27 computer stations, 2) eight teaching-laboratory classrooms with a total of 96 computer stations, 3) five classrooms and three smaller seminar rooms equipped for data projection, 4) five 'loaner' laptops and two mobile data projectors for teaching use, 5) a set of central servers, including three high-speed compute servers, two AppleShare servers, two Web servers, and a remote-access modem server, and 6) networks in all buildings providing switched 10/100Mbps Ethernet to all offices, labs, and student stations, as well as to every seat (>350) in the Department's two largest classrooms and to 'public' ports in a study area along a bridge joining its two main buildings. See Biology Computing Facilities for additional details. Biology Imaging Facility The Imaging Facility provides access to a variety of instruments for acquiring and processing microscopic and other images, and is available to users from throughout the University. Instruments are available for transmission and scanning electron microscopy, light and fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, and for production, scanning, analysis and printing of all kinds of images. Training is also provided. Contact Ed King (801-581-5237,  ).
BioKIDs Child Care and Education Center Biokids is a non-profit, cooperative child care and education facility operated by the Department of Biology, serving the students, staff, and faculty of the University of Utah. Biokids accepts children from 6 weeks to pre-school age. Part- and full-time care is available. For more information, contact BioKIDs (phone 801-585-0528,  ). or visit the BioKIDs web site.
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