College is a fantastic time to travel to far flung parts of the country or the world, and the Biology Program offers students great opportunities to adventure beyond the Iowa State campus.
Field Trip Courses
Field trip courses or travel courses are offered by a variety of departments on campus, and those offered by the Biology Program provide a unique opportunity to learn about biology through hands-on experience. These experiences may be within North America (BIOL 3930) or international (BIOL 3940), and count directly towards Biology degree requirements.
Enrolling in field trip courses requires completing an application, and there are additional course fees or costs. Each field trip course has a seminar that introduces the biology, environment, and culture of the location to be visited. The field trips themselves occur over break periods or during the summer. The Biology Program currently offers the following field trip courses:
International Field Trips (BIOL 3940)
Course Name | Credits | Location | Instructors | Availability | Application Deadline |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | Roatan Island, Honduras | Don Sakaguchi & Kim Moss | March 7-15, Spring 2025 | October 18, 2024 | |
The Tropical Ecology, Marine Biology, and Cultural Diversity of Belize | 3 | Belize City, Belize | Corinna Most & Andrew Somerville | Summer 2024 (Summer 2026) | January 3rd 2023 |
6 to 9 | Valencia, Spain | Moe Gupta & Beatrice Spalding | Summer (every year) | March 1st 2024 |
Additionally, the following field trip courses offered by other departments may also be of interest to Biology majors:
Other Field Trip Courses
Course Name | Department | Credits | Location | Instructors | Availability | Application |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Natural History of Antarctica | NREM | 3 | Antarctica | Stephen Dinsmore & Julie Blanchong | TBD | TBD |
Service Learning Trip to Uganda | NREM | 2 | Uganda | Richard Schultz & Dorothy Masinde | TBD | TBD |
Montana Camp | NREM | varies | Montana, USA | varies | Summer | Permission of Instructor |
Study Abroad
The flexibility of the Biology major makes it easy to study abroad and have those experiences count towards our degree requirements. Start with the Study Abroad Center and identify programs of interest, then work with your advisor on a plan for fitting the experience in to your degree program.
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Study Abroad Programs
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Study Abroad Programs
Additional Adventures Beyond Iowa State
Many institutions across the country offer summer research laboratories where students can have immersive field or lab experiences. Students are welcome to investigate all such programs and work with their advisor to make it part of their program of study.
One such program that Biology has a partnership with is the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Mississippi. These summer courses focus on marine biology, and you can learn more information about the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory here.
Iowa State also has a partnership with the School for Field Studies (SFS). They offer full semester and summer programs in Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Tanzania, and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Students can also take advantage of the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. Founded in 1909, the 147-acre wilderness area near Okoboji Lake provides opportunities to study nature in nature on topics ranging from ecology to mammalogy. Check out the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory website for more information.