The Sciences at Oberlin

The Sciences at Oberlin

Science and the Liberal Arts At Oberlin, we believe a science education is more valuable when combined with the liberal arts.

Why? The most effective scientist has a full range of skills: the ability to write and communicate clearly, to think broadly and critically, and to understand the impact that science and technology have on humanity and our society.

Why Oberlin?

Oberlin is a longtime leader in educating undergraduate scientists, many who enroll in top graduate and medical schools. Since 1920, more Oberlin graduates have earned PhDs than the graduates of any other primarily baccalaureate college in America. And 24 members of the National Academy of Sciences earned their undergraduate degrees at Oberlin, representing 1 percent of the academy.

Unique to Oberlin is the $50,000 Nexial Prize, which is awarded annually to a graduating science major who excels in both science and the liberal arts. There is no other award in higher education that celebrates a liberal arts-educated scientist.

Our Curriculum

First-Year Seminars

Oberlin’s science and math curriculum is extraordinary for an undergraduate college. You’ll find courses in emerging fields such as energy technology, computational modeling, and behavioral ecology. Our biology curriculum ranges from viruses to ecosystems, with lab opportunities at the bench and in the field.

With class size limited to 14 students, in-depth seminars encourage critical thinking, develop discussion and writing skills, and foster lively exchanges between students and faculty. Recent seminar topics include The Body in Health and Disease, Feeding the World, What is Mathematics and Why Won’t It Go Away?, Deconstructing the Computer,

And because Oberlin students have multiple interests, many pursue double majors. Some combine a major in science or mathematics with musical performance.

Through Oberlin’s Double Degree Program, students can complete work for a BA in the College of Arts and Sciences and a BM in the Conservatory of Music in five years or fewer.

and Plague!

Science Majors Biochemistry Biology Chemistry Cognitive Science Computer Science Environmental Studies

Geology Mathematics Neuroscience Physics (with Astronomy) Pre-Med* 3-2 Engineering**

See full details about each major, including coursework, faculty, and facilities, at go.oberlin.edu/science.

* Pre-med students can major in any subject, but will have required coursework in several science disciplines. ** Engineering students typically spend three years at Oberlin and two years at the California Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University, Columbia University, or Washington University in St. Louis, earning a BA from Oberlin and a BS in engineering from the other institution.

“I feel lucky to have been so involved in research as an undergraduate. The availability of these experiences is part of what makes Oberlin great.”

Our Graduates Change the World

—Jocienne Nelson, an Oberlin physics major and math minor who won a paid National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

She’s now enrolled in Cornell University’s PhD program in physics.

Oberlin science and math graduates enter a broad range of career paths. Many head straight to graduate school and into traditional science careers, while others capitalize on their liberal arts background for jobs in education, the environment, law, government, finance, and technology.

Computer science majors, for example—who take courses in graphics, artificial intelligence, security, and networking—also

develop critical thinking skills and are able to reason, communicate, and collaborate.

They leave Oberlin well prepared to design their own programming language, create advanced network applications, or construct neural networks that simulate the organization of a human brain.

Science and math majors from Oberlin head easily into graduate and medical programs at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Case Western Reserve, MIT, Cornell, and others. And they’re landing research and tech jobs at the National Institutes of Health, NASA, Seattle Genetics, the UNC Center for AIDS research, Microsoft, IBM, Adobe, Sony, and Facebook.

Pre-Med at Oberlin Oberlin’s thorough grounding in the basic sciences is excellent preparation for any health-related career. A dedicated premed program director advises students interested in all medical programs, including human, veterinary, and dental, plus careers in nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and public health.

The program offers workshops on career planning, medical school application assistance, and seminars with health care leaders.

Oberlin science majors are accepted into medical school at a rate twice the national average, thanks to having an outstanding preparation in the sciences, a strong liberal arts education, and being actively engaged in community service.

“If I had gotten a BS from a state school, all I would have thought about was science, but because of Oberlin’s liberal arts approach, I had to think more broadly and be able to criticize things well.”

—Gabriel Moore, a biology and musical studies major who worked in the biology lab of Associate Professor Maureen Peters for three years. Gabe won a travel grant to present his research on microscopic worms at an international conference. He’s now in a PhD program at Princeton, working toward his doctorate in molecular biology.

It all starts with a question—an intellectual pursuit. Science is about forming hypotheses based on facts. And it’s about developing the knowledge and laboratory skills to seek the answers.

Above: Assistant Professor Gunnar Kwakye works with incoming first-year students who are taking part in Oberlin’s summer STRONG program, designed to give first-year STEM students a head start on college life.

We Work Side-By-Side with Professors

Because Oberlin is an undergraduate college, students here have excellent access to professors and labs. Classes and labs are supervised by faculty members, not graduate students. And all science and math professors at Oberlin hold PhDs. All science faculty members are active researchers. Faculty labs are designed so that students can assist with research.

This offers opportunities for hands-on learning and student/ professor mentoring relationships for which Oberlin is so well known. (In fact, every Friday evening, science profs and students gather for Socializing With Scientists—pizza and

informal conversation. There are two rules: use first names only—even with professors—and no jargon allowed!)

In recent years, 80 percent of Oberlin’s natural science faculty members have been awarded competitive grants for research, equipment, or curriculum innovation.

Throughout the year, professors invite leading scholars to campus to talk with students about new ideas in science, mathematics, and environmental studies. Through our Center for Learning, Education, and Research in the Sciences (CLEAR), science students can get drop-in tutoring support, find peer mentors, and take part in Lab Crawls that feature student/faculty research.

Also at Oberlin is a faculty mentoring and research program called STRONG (Science and Technology Research Opportunities for a New Generation), which brings incoming first-year students to campus for the month of July to take part in paid research with professors, meet other STEM students, and get a head start on learning the Oberlin community. STRONG is designed for students of color, low-income students, women, and first-generation college students.

Below: Assistant Professor Amanda Henck Schmidt and her geology research students study landscapes—how they shape the decisions that people make about land use and how people alter the environments that they live in.

OBIE FACTS

11:1

Student to faculty ratio in the College of Arts and Sciences

42%

of biology grads work in a health related field; 16% work in education.

Science students publish regularly in dozens of research journals, including the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts , the Journal of Physical Chemistry, the American Journal of Physics, Behavioural Brain Research, Geology, Meteorites and Planetary Sciences, Tumor Biology, and many more.

Where Science Takes Place

At the heart of our science community lies the Oberlin Science Center. One of several science facilities on campus, it was designed to allow students and professors to work together and to collaborate with other disciplines. The Science Center hosts biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and physics and astronomy. It also houses a spacious science library, lecture halls, computer labs—even a rooftop greenhouse. The large, sunlit commons area is a favorite place to study, eat, and just hang out.

Astronomy students can study the stars day or night from a domed observatory and planetarium that sits atop Peters Hall at the center of campus. And geology majors enjoy six newly renovated research labs, a rock preparation lab, and a scanning electron microscope lab.

We Have a Green Building That Teaches

Sustainability is integral to the way we learn and live at Oberlin. Our Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies helped to launch the green building movement of the 21st century. Architect magazine called it “the most important green building constructed in the last 30 years.�

Throughout the building and landscape, 150 sensors monitor everything from electricity usage to soil moisture. The data that’s collected is displayed in real time.

An indoor wetland called the “Living Machine” treats and recycles wastewater.

Outdoors, a wetland, orchard, and vegetable garden demonstrate urbanscale organic agriculture. You’ll even find free-range chickens!

The Lewis Center is also home to students majoring in environmental studies.

Students take courses in the natural and behavioral sciences and gain problemsolving skills needed to build a more sustainable relationship between humans and the environment.

OBIE FACTS

136%

Percentage of used energy produced by the net-positive Lewis Center.

Oberlin was named the Best Four-Year Higher Education Institution on the U.S. Green Building Council’s recent “Best of Green Schools” list.

We Have Equipment for Any Adventure

OBIE FACTS

125

Oberlin students receive stipends each summer to participate in research

19%

of Oberlin’s physical science and math graduates work in education, 15% in information technology, 14% in health care, and 9% in research positions

Most Oberlin science majors participate in research projects, either on their own or with a faculty member. Students here don’t have to compete with graduate students to access important lab equipment, as they often do at large universities.

Our labs are equipped with sophisticated instruments you would expect to find at a large school, including DNA sequencing equipment, cell culture facilities, vacuum deposition chambers, a scanning electron microscope, a confocal microscope, and a microplate reader.

Right: Student researchers in the lab of physics and astronomy professor Yumi Ijiri study magnetic nanoparticles and other unusual magnets.

A new high-performance computing cluster was installed in 2015 using funds from a National Science Foundation grant, continuing Oberlin’s reputation as a leader in supercomputing. Also impressive is our nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) capability. Chemistry students may access 400- and a 600-MHz instruments.

All of this lab research and one-on-one time with professors give Oberlin students an advantage when applying for prestigious grants, fellowships, internships, and graduate school. Aaron Krupp, for example, a recent engineering major, traveled through Asia as a Watson Fellow to work on safe water and roofing projects in impoverished regions.

Left: Student researchers Maxwell Butler and Megan Michel are studying the West Nile Virus—specifically the interaction between birds and mosquitoes—with biology professor Mary Garvin. Here, they’re testing a new instrument called an olfactometer, which lets them observe mosquito behavior.

Summer also provides opportunities for in-depth research experiences, either off-campus or on. Geology students conduct fieldwork in China, Tibet, the Virgin Islands, and across the U.S. Biology major Jennifer Jimenez spent 10 weeks conducting cancer research at the National Institutes of Health and held an internship with world famous evolutionary biologist Richard Lenski ‘76.

Student research is supported through external faculty grants and college funding. The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program serves students of color and those committed to increasing racial diversity in higher education.

The Oberlin College Research Fellows Program offers grants to low-income, underrepresented, and first-generation students. Both programs award two summers of faculty-mentored research.

Arts & Sciences Admissions 38 East College Street Oberlin, OH 44074

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID OBERLIN COLLEGE

Application Deadlines EARLY DECISION I: November 15 Notification: December EARLY DECISION II: January 2 Notification: February REGULAR DECISION: January 15 Notification: March

Biology Roger Laushman [T] 440.775.8315 [E] roger.laushman@ oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/bio

Chemistry/ Biochemistry Jason Belitsky [T] 440.775.8300 [E] jason.belitsky@ oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/ chem

Cognitive Sciences Concentration Todd Ganson [T] 440.775.8395 [E] todd.ganson@ oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/ cogsci

Computer Science Robert Geitz [T] 440.775.8386 [E] bob.geitz@oberlin. edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/csci

Environmental Studies

Physics and Astronomy

Karl Offen [T] 440.775.8973 [E] karl.offen@ oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/envs

Jason Stalnaker [T] 440.775.8330 [E] jason.stalnaker@ oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/phys

Geology

Pre-Med Program

Zeb Page [T] 440.775.6701 [E] zeb.page @oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/geol

Justin Crowley [T] 440.775.8369 [E] justin.crowley @oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/ premed

Mathematics Jack Calcut [T] 440.775.8380 [E] jack.calcut @oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/math

Neuroscience Tracie Paine [T] 440.775.8366 [E] tracie.paine @oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/nsci

3-2 Engineering Program Taylor Allen [T] 440.775.8324 [E] taylor.allen @oberlin.edu [W] go.oberlin.edu/engi

Office of Admissions: College of Arts & Sciences 38 East College St. Oberlin, OH 44074 [W] admissions. oberlin.edu/as [E] college.admissions @oberlin.edu [T] 800.622.OBIE (6243) or 440.775.8411

Office of Admissions: Conservatory of Music 39 West College St. Oberlin, OH 44074 [W] admissions. oberlin.edu/con [E] conservatory. admissions@oberlin.edu [T] 440.775.8413

Oberlin College admits students of any race, religion, age, sex, color, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and national or ethnic origin.

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For information about specific science programs, contact the department chair listed here or visit the website. You can also visit go.oberlin.edu/ science. Oberlin’s math and science departments grant AP and IB credit.

Transfer students are encouraged to apply.