Bachelor of Science in Zoology

at State University of New York - Oswego USA

Our interdisciplinary degree integrates concepts and methods from computer science, graphic design and the social sciences. Drawing upon these concepts and methods, you will learn user-centered design approaches as you create information and communication technologies such as websites, mobile apps, computer games and software design.

Choose between two tracks designed to focus solely on HCI influences or a professional track infused with business courses.

You can choose to study and investigate a number of specialization areas including cellular and molecular, organismal and systematic, genetic and developmental, or environmental and population biology. After introductory core courses, students and professors work together to design a program of additional courses to fit your professional career interests. Careful selection of electives, research courses, projects and internships can prepare you for particular careers, graduate studies and/or training at professional schools (medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine).

Top-notch facilities in the Shineman Center and Rice Creek Field Station with helpful and knowledgeable professors will provide you with great preparation and research opportunities. Active student organizations provide on-campus connections while a successful network of graduates can help you find internships during college as well as opportunities after graduation. We also offer an honors program in the major for exceptional students.

With their ability to think critically, communicate effectively and solve complex problems with creativity and independent judgment, biology majors make great employees in any field. Majors discover new knowledge to better understand themselves, the world and their place in it, whether working in science or using your knowledge to make informed decisions that impact society.

Because employers look for physics graduates with a solid background in experimental methods and the use of modern electronic equipment and computers, all programs stress individual attention from faculty and practical laboratory experience. Oswego's physics program offers many hands-on opportunities in the Shineman Center through many labs and a working planetarium — as well as through sought-after internships and chances to study abroad.

Oswego offers top-notch internships, co-op opportunities and connections, most notably immersive 10-week internships at NASA's CalTech Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Participate hands-on in faculty research as part of your senior capstone experience in undergraduate research.

Physics facilities include our planetarium, computational laboratory, condensed matter physics laboratory, nanotechnology laboratory, thin films laboratory and nuclear instrumentation detectors lab, and an outdoor observatory.

The year long capstone experience places students in a position of developing software for real clients. The laboratory and instructional facilities support and encourage creativity and teamwork. Oswego’s software engineering program — the first in all of SUNY — provides a systems-oriented curriculum that encompasses software requirements, design, construction, testing, maintenance, configuration management, engineering management, engineering process, tools and quality assurance.

Join the Computer Science Association, which sponsors guest speakers, conducts programming contests, arranges tours of companies that hire graduates and provides opportunities for advanced students to tutor and mentor first-year students. Develop software for real clients during your year-long capstone experience. Pursue an internship or co-op opportunity in a company or institution, and gain software development experience in finance, defense, manufacturing, government or other fields.

State-of-the-art facilities in the Shineman Center include workspaces configured for class-based, small-group and individual activities. Our labs provide a great learning, testing and training ground for future success.

SUNY Oswego’s bachelor of science degree program in Software Engineering (SE) is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET — the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.

The graphic design and digital media program consists of courses in studio, thesis, history, theory and practice. Candidates choose to focus in a specific medium such as the web, interactive or print, or to focus on a specific production type such as promotional, informational or illustrative. The curriculum is structured into two tracks, offering students with an undergraduate degree in a related area of study the opportunity to develop a specialization, and offering students from outside of the discipline the opportunity for general study within design to complement an undergraduate degree.

Cinema and screen studies focuses on the history, theory and criticism of cinema, as well as of new and pre-cinematic screen media, with a sequence in screenwriting and digital film production. The program incorporates interdisciplinary options that allow you to link studies of moving images to exciting developments in cognitive science, computer and information sciences, and the other humanities, fine arts and social sciences.

Use the course learning agreement to focus on your own interests — whether that means acting, design, computer animation, the psychological and social effects of moving images, media literacy and education — or the connections among information science, the natural sciences and visual technologies. Create a public exhibition of a film or video project — or a public reading and discussion of a research project or screenplay — to fulfill your capstone course requirement. Oswego's program regularly shows at, and sometimes hosts, the SUNY-wide Film Festival.

Our program provides a foundation in the principles of geology and its related sciences with four laboratories, a seismograph and field experiences. A newer track on environmental earth sciences integrates a set of cross-disciplinary environmental science experiences from biological sciences, chemistry, meteorology and physics.

Oswego is ideally located for field studies of Lake Ontario, carbonate and clastic sedimentary rocks of the Lower Paleozoic age, Precambrian rocks of the Adirondacks, Pleistocene glacial features and the pollution of rivers and ground waters. Field trips may include southeastern Pennsylvania, the Chesapeake Bay, Ithaca, Whitaker State Park, and the Catskill Mountains.

You also can perform research with professors around the country, or learn firsthand about field-based research and much more in our Geology Field Program. Build your resume through internships and co-op opportunities, and complete an independent research project under the direction of a faculty adviser. Study geology abroad through through regular coursework or research placements.

Our program is accredited by the American Chemical Society and is ranked in the top three in the number of certified degrees award in New York. Graduates of SUNY Oswego’s chemistry programs have gone on to study at prestigious graduate schools, and have received national recognition as chemists, researchers and educators. Outstanding labs in the Shineman Center, professors who are knowledgeable yet student-focused, active student organizations and internships at home and overseas provide a first-class chemistry experience.

Join the student affiliate of the American Chemical Society, which offers free tutoring and other services, and has often been cited as one of the most outstanding in the country. Excel and you may qualify for the chemistry honors program, which emphasizes independent study and research, or even the national honor societies Sigma Xi and Phi Kappa Phi. You can present your work at Sigma Xi and other conferences. A large network of internships and co-op opportunities are among the ingredients for future success.

Facilities and equipment in the Shineman Center include a scanning electron microscope, 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, scintillation counter, analytical chromatographs, preparative gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer and many computing facilities.

Multidisciplinary courses in such topics as anthropology, sociology, the family, or communication and counseling, provide additional background from other social sciences. Through a personalized learning agreement, you can add three additional courses from different disciplines relevant to your personal educational and career goals.

Select two semester-long internships relevant to your career goals, and apply the academic material you’ve learned to working with people in a human-services role. Take courses to focus on the application of the scientific method in program settings to better and more efficiently serve people using skills in program development and evaluation.

You will take specialized courses in risk management, lines of insurance and employee benefits while also gaining core strengths in such areas as accounting, finance, marketing and management.

Study risk management problems and solutions in depth during your capstone experience. You’ll study in the region (Central New York) that has the second-highest insurance industry employment east of the Mississippi. Given the pioneering nature of Oswego's program, you can help blaze a trail for young talent in these industries.

SUNY Oswego's Gordon A. Lenz Center for Finance, Insurance and Risk Management provides resources for excellence in teaching, research and community outreach.