What's New?

What's New?

New challenges and opportunities underpin all fields of academic endeavor, and so we frequently offer new programs to ensure students can take advantage of the latest developments across the arts and sciences.

Highlights of the 2007-2008 academic year include:

  • Marine Science

    Marine Science

    New interdisciplinary majors and minors in Marine Science combine the perspectives of biology, geology, chemistry, and physical oceanography.  These majors and minors incorporate a nationally unique feature of the Boston University Marine Program (BUMP):  the “Marine Semester,” consisting of four month-long intensive “block” courses where teaching and research are seamlessly integrated. Marine Semester courses are offered on campus in newly constructed marine research and teaching laboratories, off-campus in unique field settings targeting marine science specialties (e.g., tropical marine ecology in Belize), and closer to home in collaboration with local academic partners such as the New England Aquarium and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in Scituate. 

    In Fall 2008, participants in the “Marine Semester” will be able to elect a new two-block sequence “Tropical Oceanography of the Caribbean,” offered in partnership with the Sea Education Association (SEA).  On-shore study and development of research projects in Woods Hole will lead to a month’s voyage in the Caribbean, during which students will face the scientific and human challenges of sailing a wind-powered vessel, and carry out their research projects using state-of-the-art techniques and on-board instrumentation.

  • Neuroscience

    Neuroscience

    A new major in Neuroscience, the interdisciplinary study of brain and mind, has been developed as part of the University’s comprehensive initiative in this area of pioneering research.  The neuroscience major draws on faculty strength spanning the CAS departments of Biology, Psychology, Cognitive & Neural Systems, Mathematics & Statistics, and Computer Science, with foreseeable extensions to Philosophy, linguistics, and the social sciences. It lays broad foundations in each of three core areas — cellular and systems neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and computational neuroscience — which individual students will then pursue in combinations that suit their interests. 

    The undergraduate program begins with a first-year seminar, taken when students are otherwise engaged in fulfilling basic science and College requirements; it takes advantage of seminars and speaker series sponsored by the Center for Neuroscience; and it culminates in an upper-level laboratory research experience that students choose from a menu to which clinical and basic science faculty on the medical campus are eager to contribute.

  • Muslim Cultures and Muslim Societies

    Muslim Cultures & Muslim Societies

    The establishment of two new minors,  in Muslim Cultures and in Muslim Societies, to be administered by our Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies & Civilizations, enhances the global perspective offered by our undergraduate programs. Each of these minors is interdisciplinary, spanning cultural heritage and current events. Four semesters of Arabic, Persian, or Turkish are required for the humanities-focused minor in Muslim Cultures, and strongly encouraged for the social science-focused minor in Muslim Societies.

    A wealth of electives is associated with these minors: in anthropology, archaeology, art history, history, international relations, modern languages and comparative literature, political science religion, and sociology. Interested students will also benefit from ongoing development of study aboard opportunities in Rabat, Morocco, and other cities of the Muslim world.