Northern Kentucky University is a comprehensive, metropolitan university located in the Greater Cincinnati area with an increasing enrollment of over 13,000 students.  This great location affords faculty and students opportunities to enjoy an array of cultural experiences including professional sports, museums, world class orchestras, an aquarium, theaters, ballet, college sports, horse racing, NASCAR racing, and many others.  Easy access to the University is facilitated by the presence of the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (located in Boone County, Kentucky) as well as by several interstate highways (I-71, I-74, I-75, I-275 {circle freeway}, I-471 {connector from I-71 to campus}).  Additional information about the University may be accessed at http://www.nku.edu/.

            The Department of Biological Sciences has 23 full-time faculty members and approximately 400 undergraduate majors.  We offer degrees in general biology, teacher education in biology, and environmental science.  The environmental science program, while administered by the Department of Biological Sciences, is an interdisciplinary program that is offered in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Physics and Geology. 

While undergraduate instruction is our major thrust, the Department places much emphasis on undergraduate research.   In fact, undergraduate research has become on of the defining characteristics of the Department.  During the past several years, this has resulted in a large number of students working with members of the faculty on research projects.  Students write grant proposals to support their research efforts, make presentations at state, regional, and national meetings such as those of the Kentucky Academy of Science, Beta Beta Beta, and the annual “Poster’s on the Hill” event sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research in Washington D. C.   They also co-author papers with faculty mentors.  Many of these students will go on to graduate or professional schools while others may go to work in research labs (Procter & Gamble, US EPA, FDA, NIOSH) located in the area.  The US EPA and private environmental consulting firms provide employment opportunities for many environmental science majors as well as some biology majors.

During the spring/summer of 2002, the Department of Biological Sciences along with the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Physics and Geology moved into a new 38 million dollar science building.  This new 172,000 square feet facility was designed to enhance the capabilities of hands-on-learning.  The building contains 9 state of the art classrooms and 48 laboratories (both teaching and research).  Additional millions have been spent on appropriately equipping this facility.  Some of the major purchases for the Department of Biological Sciences include the addition of 269 Olympus student microscopes, a Nikon con-focal microscope system, a Typhoon 9200, an FEI scanning electron microscope, a Sorvall Ultracentrifuge, and a compacter system for the herbarium/museum.   This new structure and the accompanying equipment will enable us to do many things that we could only dream about in the past.