Pre-Professional Health (Pre-Med) | Environmental Science | Clinical Lab Sciences
Biochemistry | Biology Education

Many students select a biology major without specializing in a particular area, but EMU's department of biology gives you the opportunity to choose from a number of disciplines (listed below) designed to give preparation for further education (medical school), service (nonprofit organizations), or other employment (biotechnology).

Pre-Professional Health Sciences

"At EMU I built a solid foundation in the sciences, a real asset in the graduate studies I was to pursue."

-Missy Solanki, an EMU graduate who earned a doctorate in pharmacy and now works at Augusta Medical Center. Learn more about pre-professional health sciences at EMU...

Christina Harman, a sophomore environmental science major, admires the Amorphophallus konjac, an uncommon Asian flower that recently bloomed in EMU's greenhouse.

Biology majors interested in biomedicine enroll in PPHS, designed for students interested in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, physical therapy, exercise physiology, occupational therapy, optometry, podiatry, osteopathy, or graduate education and research in any area of biomedicine. Because graduate schools value a broad education, a minor in a non-science area of interest is suggested.

Normally the pre-professional health sciences student will complete the required courses by the end of the junior year of study in order to be fully prepared at that time to take a professional health science school entrance exam (MCAT, DAT, VET or GRE). Learn more...

Advisors: Roman Miller and Greta Ann Herin

Environmental Science

We believeChristians have a unique opportunity to respond to the many environmental issues facing people locally and around the world. Environmental problems such as ecological degradation, species conservation, pollution, and climate change are likely to represent major challenges to humanity in the coming decades. Our program in environmental science seeks to help students articulate and implement a Christian response towards stewardship of the planet. The newest of our programs, this program is designed to draw from various subdisciplines (for example, ecology, chemistry, and physiology), and includes a substantial practicum in which students work with a local environmental organization such as Shenandoah National Park, The Nature Conservancy, or the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Click here for our list of links for environmental course, internships, and jobs.

Advisors: Doug Graber Neufeld, Jim Yoder

Clinical Laboratory Sciences

Clinical Laboratory Sciences (CLS), or medical technology, is a field of professionals who work in medical or hospital laboratories. The typical clinical laboratory scientist or medical technologist works in a hospital laboratory, either as a generalist, or as a specialist in a given area. CLS is a rather diverse field, including such disciplines as hematology, serology, immunology, microbiology, clinical chemistry, and others. A medical technologist has skills in drawing blood, microscopy, labeling and transporting specimens, running computer-interfaced diagnostic instrumentation to perform various analyses on blood and other body fluids, preparing donor blood for transfusion, identifying microorganisms, reporting laboratory test results, and many others. Sometimes, a medical technologist will branch into other related areas of health care, such as laboratory management, computer information systems, laboratory education, biomedical research, blood banking, or others. Training typically includes one full year of studying in a school of medical technology after graduation from college, but some programs incorporate the year of medical technology school into the baccalaureate degree curriculum.

EMU has articulation agreements with several hospitals which provide the clinical component of clinical laboratory sciences leading to a bachelor's degree. Read more about Clinical Laboratory Sciences program at EMU...

Advisors: Roman Miller and Greta Ann Herin

Biochemistry

Some of the most dramatic scientific advances in recent years have been in our understanding of the biochemistry of living organisms. For instance, the phenomenal advances in molecular biology have opened door to a wide range of biomedical and agricultural applications that were not imagined several decades ago, while at the same time presenting a range of bioethical concerns. The Departments of biology and chemistry cooperate in offering students the option of concentrating their studies on this dynamic field by majoring in Biochemistry. This rigorous program is geared towards giving students a fundamental knowledge in the molecular basis of biological processes. Students take coursework involving a combination of chemistry and biology courses, culminating in a two-semester advanced biochemistry series.

Biology Education

Secondary education with licensure in biology qualifies a student to teach biology in grades 6-12. Because EMU's program is approvied by NCATE, the national accrediting association, this licensure is accepted in most of the U.S. Licensure basically involves a double major in education and biology, including one semester of student teaching and many other practical experiences in schools.