Integrated Sciences Major

Major Requirements

The major in Integrated Sciences requires 11 courses distributed as follows:

1. Core Requirements (7 courses)

2. Electives (4 courses)

Any Integrated Sciences course numbered 100 or higher can serve as an Integrated Sciences elective. Students are required to take at least four upper-division courses, at least two with laboratory components.

Thematic Areas: Health, Brain, Planet

Students will have the option to specialize in one of the core thematic areas (health, brain, planet) if they desire, by choosing all four electives that are aligned with their respective thematic area of interest (health, brain, or planet) from a pre-approved list . Students who choose to specialize will have their thematic area indicated on their transcript.

Notes:

SCI 030LACM and SCI 030LBCM require completion of MATH 030 CM or higher and SCI 010L CM .
SCI 031LACM and SCI 031LBCM require completion of SCI 030LACM and SCI 030LBCM .
SCI 040L CM requires completion of MATH 031 CM or higher and SCI 030LACM and SCI 030LBCM .
SCI 050L CM requires completion of MATH 031 CM or higher and SCI 030LACM and SCI 030LBCM or permission of the instructor.
Students must complete SCI 031LACM and SCI 031LBCM , and in some cases SCI 050L CM , prior to taking elective courses in the major.

Senior Thesis in Integrated Sciences

The senior thesis is a general education requirement and the capstone experience of a student’s undergraduate education. Students must complete a senior thesis in at least one of their majors under supervision of a faculty reader who teaches within that major, unless granted a special exception.

Students interested in a 2-semester thesis project complete a 0.5 credit or 1.0 credit thesis research course in the 1^stsemester and the senior thesis in the 2^nd semester. The senior thesis and the thesis research course may not be counted as courses in the major.

Special Options for Majors

Dual Majors

The dual major in Integrated Sciences requires a minimum of 9 courses. Dual majors in Integrated Sciences may waive 2 electives from the full major. Dual majors will thus not specialize in any thematic area.

Students with a dual major including Integrated Sciences are encouraged to write their senior thesis on a topic in Integrated Sciences (which may be on an interdisciplinary topic if approved by an Integrated Sciences faculty advisor).

Honors in Integrated Sciences

To qualify for honors in Integrated Sciences, students must:

Earn at least a 3.50 GPA in all major courses,
Write a senior thesis under the supervision of a member of KDIS or a science faculty member at another college with the approval of the advisor and department chair.

Study Abroad

All CMC students are encouraged to apply for study abroad during the junior year. Students planning to study abroad should consult with the department chair and their advisor to determine which off-campus courses will be accepted for the major. Study abroad courses normally count as elective courses. At most one elective course may normally be counted towards the major.

General Education Requirements for Integrated Sciences Majors

General Education Requirement in Science

The general education requirement in science is fulfilled by SCI 010L CM .

General Education Requirement in Mathematics and Computer Science

Any course offered by the CMC Department of Mathematical Sciences may satisfy the general education requirement. Any computer science course or calculus course offered at the other undergraduate Claremont Colleges may also satisfy the general education requirement.

General Education Requirement in the Social Sciences and the Humanities

For the general education requirement in the social sciences and the humanities, CMC students majoring in Integrated Sciences must take designated courses in three of the four fields of the social sciences (economics, government, history, and psychology), and in two of the four fields of the humanities (literature, philosophy, religious studies, and literature in a foreign language).

Integrated sciences majors with a dual or double major in either the humanities or the social sciences will be required to take an additional course in those categories.

Student Learning Outcomes of the Program in Integrated Sciences

Learning Goals

The Integrated Sciences curriculum is designed to serve a variety of educational objectives. The basic goals of the major are to:

Develop foundational proficiency with concepts and methods in the natural sciences;
Develop experimental, quantitative, and computational research skills; and
Develop effective communication skills and an understanding of the relationships between science and society.

Student Learning Outcomes

Process of science: Formulate scientific questions, design experiments, collect and evaluate data, and interpret and communicate findings.
Integrative problem solving: Develop proficiency with concepts and techniques from across the natural sciences, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and apply them appropriately to solve problems.
Depth of understanding: Develop a deep understanding in a chosen scientific area (e.g., health, brain, or planet) to be able to critically evaluate relevant scientific literature, identify important questions, propose novel research directions, and engage in scholarship.
Quantitative methods: Evaluate, apply, and implement quantitative, statistical, and computational approaches to problems in the natural sciences.
Communication: Communicate concepts and findings in the natural sciences, and their impacts, with a variety of audiences.
Team science: Work in teams with diverse backgrounds, knowledge-bases, and experiences to address and solve complex scientific challenges.
Science with society: Reason about the roles of science in society, including the societal implications of scientific work.