A Deep Dive into Biological Basics
While most schools offer research opportunities for their undergraduates, what makes SBD unique is the variety of the subjects, the hands-on experience, and the individual attention.
This year’s SBD course launched originally with just four students, who were joined a few weeks later by seven students in the University of Chicago Spring Quarter. The small course sizes is part of what makes the program so unique, said Mark Welch. Classes will top out at 10 students and more modules will be added the more students enroll.
“Whether you’re at Harvard or at Swarthmore or at a state university, you typically have one shot to get into somebody's lab and whatever they’re studying—that’s what you’re going to work on,” said Mark Welch. “In SBD, you’re getting that deep dive in four completely separate aspects of biology that you wouldn’t otherwise get.”
The students clearly agreed that the MBL experience was a unique one. Liam Leeming, a student at the University of Chicago, said he came to the program, in part, because he wanted to learn about advanced imaging techniques without having to take high-level physics courses.
“A lot of the hands-on experience at UChicago doesn't necessarily come from the coursework or labs. It comes from going and getting a job with a professor and then having them teach you. It can leave holes in your education. It’s different at MBL,” said Leeming.
The students weren’t chained to the lab, either. The modules brought students into the field, where they collected samples in the local marsh. The group went on a camping trip to Penikese Island. The Biological Oceanography module went to sea aboard the Sea Education Association’s sailing vessel Corwith Cramer.