Dean’s Scholars Honors Option in the College of Natural Sciences

 

Dean’s Scholars Honors options are being developed within the existing mathematics and science degree plans of the College of Natural Sciences.  Students obtain a B.S. degree within a traditional major such as biochemistry or computer sciences, but are distinguished with both an honors-option  and departmental-honors designation included on the degree and transcript. 


Advantages of the honors option include small introductory honors courses, a faculty-supervised research experience and increased elective flexibility that permits the student to design a unique course of study tailored to a research or career interest.

 

Within 4 semesters of graduation (or at any point that the student begins upper-division course work), a course of study for electives and major classes will be determined in consultation with a faculty advisor.

 

Following the sophomore-level writing component course, but at least two semesters prior to graduation, Dean’s Scholars will identify and begin to work with a faculty advisor to determine a research project that culminates in a thesis. 

 

Specifics of the degree plan are noted below:


1.  The B.S. honors degree option consists of 120 hours distributed in four general areas:

  1. 30 hours of University-mandated courses outside the College of Natural Sciences (i.e., Rhetoric, Government, History, Social Sciences, Fine Arts and Foreign Language.)
  2. 30 hours of honors courses as described below
  3. 30 hours of lecture and laboratory work in a CNS degree-specific concentration area (i.e. mathematics, physics, biology, etc.)
  4. 30 elective hours determined in consultation with a faculty advisor and approved by the  Director of Dean’s Scholars

 

2.  The 30-hours of honors coursework is taken in the areas listed below:

a.      A 3-hour freshman-year Honors Research Methods course NSC 301.  Research Methods is a laboratory course that introduces students to the scientific research enterprise, with lectures on various aspects of experiment design and data evaluation, and with student-designed science and mathematics inquiries.

  1. A 3-hour sophomore-year honors rhetoric course that emphasizes critical thinking course that develops skills in oral and written expression.
  2. A 6-hour senior-year research experience with thesis.
  3. A minimum of six courses from the lower division honors curriculum including at least 3 hours of honors mathematics.  A breadth requirement is met by taking courses from at least four disciplines.  Students who place out of the requirement in a major area must substitute other honors courses--the required number of semester hours in honors courses will remain the same. 

 

            Mathematics                          M408DH        Sequences/Series/Multivariate Calculus

                                                            M427KH         Advanced Calculus for Applications I

M427LH         Advanced Calculus for Applications II

M325KH         Discrete Mathematics

M328K           Number Theory (Honors Section)

            Chemistry                               CH301H         Honors Principles of Chemistry I

CH302H         Honors Principles of Chemistry II

CH618AH      Honors Organic Chemistry I

CH618BH      Honors Organic Chemistry II

            Physics                                   PHY 301         Mechanics

PHY 316         Electricity and Magnetism

PHY 315         Wave Motion and Optics

            Biology                                   BIO 302C       Advanced Introduction to Genetics

BIO 325H       Honors Genetics

            Computer Sciences              CS313H         Algorithms and Data Structures

                                                            CS315H         Logic, Sets, and Functions

                                                            CS323H         Scientific Computing

 

3.  Three one-hour Dean’s Scholars seminars are incorporated into the honors curriculum:

  1. The required first-year Research Methods course will include a one-hour discussion section that acclimates students to the DS program.
  2. The required lower-division writing component course will include a one-hour speaking seminar in which students develop techniques for presentation of research.
  3. Thesis hours will include a seminar component that includes public presentation of research through the CNS poster session or a Dean’s Scholars research forum.