Bioinformatics Option for Computer Science Majors

     In the years since the draft of the human genome was published in 2001 bioinformatics has increasingly become a field where large databases of information and computer models play a significant role.  Computer scientists are needed in such areas as data mining, algorithms, visualization, networking, and human-computer interaction.  Working effectively to build these complex systems requires collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of research scientists. A computer scientist must have a firm grounding in the basic principles of biology, chemistry, mathematics and statistics as well as the in silico methods of research that are the standard in computer science. 

    Bioinformatics is a burgeoning field with plentiful career opportunities.  People  working  in this  field  must have a solid  background  in  biology,  math  and computer  science with an emphasis on quantitative reasoning.  The curriculum for a bioinformatics  concentration would give CS majors a minor in Biology. Our goal is to  prepare undergraduate students majoring in CS for employment as  bioinformaticists  in  biomedical  research  and for graduate training  in bioinformatics at both the  Master’s and the Ph.D. levels.

    Students concentrating in bioinformatics will fulfill the requirements for the computer science major with three differences:

1. Two required courses have been removed from the computer science major and have been replaced with three courses required for the bioinformatics concentration, as shown below.  All courses are 3 credits. 
2. The requirement for a minor is fulfilled by a 12 credit minor in biology. 
3. The major elective requirement, consisting of five 300 or 400 level CSCI courses
   or equivalent (15 credits), has been removed. 
   
   

   Removed	Added
   CSCI 245 Computer Architecture II CSCI 345 Computer Architecture III	CSCI 435 Data Base Management CSCI 493.66 Unix Tools STAT 319 [New] Bayesian Inference in the Sciences

   
   

    The curriculum for the bioinformatics concentration in computer science is given below.  All courses are required.  BIOL 425 is the capstone seminar for the bioinformatics concentrations in all five disciplines – biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and statistics.  Prerequisites will have to be waived for BIOL 300 (waive BIOL 202 and CHEM 223), BIOL 302 (waive BIOL 300), CSCI 265, and CSCI 340 (waive CSCI 245).  The number of credits required in biology, chemistry, and mathematics and statistics effectively gives computer science students a minor in all three disciplines.