This schedule integrates requirements for the major, the College of Arts and Science (CAS), and the Miami Plan, and provides a structure for completing them over a 4-year period. The required and recommended courses in the major are specifically noted because many of them must be taken in sequence, and some of them may be offered only once a year. To fulfill the Miami Plan and CAS requirements, you will take a certain number of credit hours from several categories of courses. Progress towards fulfillment of the requirements for the major is provided online for each student (and their advisor) through their Degree Audit Report (DAR).

All students in the College of Arts and Science must pass satisfy the CAS A requirement for a foreign language, which is to complete a course at the 202 level or higher. Although we have built in a two-year sequence beginning with 101 in our suggested schedule, you may be able to leverage your previous foreign language study in high school, and bypass some of the introductory foreign language coursework. Alternatively, the schedule will accommodate the study of a new language.

Ask your advisor how certain elective courses may contribute to your particular professional goals. Some students will devote their elective course hours to obtain a second major or co-major, such as Chemistry, Spanish or Premedical Studies; other students may use these hours for additional preparation for professional school standardized tests.

Core Courses, 16 hours

• Biological Concepts I or Microbial World / Experimenting with Microbes or Elementary Medical Microbiology
• Biological Concepts II
• General Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Undergraduate seminar (beginning with students first enrolled in Fall 2013)

Focus Courses, 14 hours minimum

• Breadth Requirement - select at least 1 course from each of the following groups:
  Biomedical courses

  • Epidemiology
  • Medical Bacteriology
  • Immunology Principles
    (and Practice)
  • Medical Mycology
  • Human Viruses

  Integrative courses

  • Molecular Genetics Laboratory
  • Microbial Ecology
  • Principles of Bioinformatics
  • Bacterial Cell Biology
  • Structural Genomics

  Advanced Core courses

  • Microbial Physiology
  • Microbial Genetics

• Depth Requirement - select at least 2 four-credit hour courses with labs:
  • Medical Bacteriology
  • Immunology Principles and Practice
  • Microbial Physiology
  • Microbial Ecology
  • Structural Genomics

Elective Courses

• Additional courses from Microbiology at the 200-level or higher (including additional Focus Courses), or from Biology or Chemistry (at the 300-level or higher), to complete the 32 required hours

Related science courses, 19-25 hours

• Calculus or Statistics
• General Chemistry with Lab
• Organic Chemistry with Lab (2 semesters)
  or Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry and Outlines of Biochemistry
• Physics with Lab

Note: No Microbiology or required related course may be taken on credit/no credit basis.

Note: Other MBI 100-level courses DO NOT COUNT towards the 32 required hours in Microbiology

Thematic Sequence (9 hours)

• Students may choose from among any of the thematic sequences offered at Miami University.
• Students must register for the thematic sequence at the department offering the sequence.

Note: Microbiology majors cannot use a Microbiology thematic sequence to satisfy the requirement.

Microbiology Capstone (3 hours)

Capstone requirements

• Senior Internship 410 (2) + Undergraduate Seminar 490 (1)
  - or -
• Library Research 440 (2) + Undergraduate Seminar 490 (1)
  - or -
• Laboratory Research 477.R (2) + Undergraduate Seminar 490 (1)
  - or -
• Departmental Honors 480 (2) + Undergraduate Seminar 490 (1)

Detailed description of the Microbiology Capstone

Note: Research Capstone courses require a completed independent study form.

Note: Microbiology majors can satisfy capstone requirements with any capstone offered by Miami University.

Courses suggested as non-microbiology electives for A.B. degree in Microbiology

• Technical Writing: ENG 313 (3)
• Analytical Chemistry: CHM 363, 364 (3,2)
• Additional upper-level Chemistry
• Personal Computer Applications: CSE 141 (2), with or without
  Computing Skills - Database: CIT 101.D (1)

Note: Students should be competent in computer usage before taking MBI 201.