Honors in Integrative Biology
What is the Honors Program?
The Honors Program in Integrative Biology provides an exciting opportunity to gain valuable professional experience by working closely with a faculty sponsor to conduct a biology-related independent research project. It is also a great way to receive recognition for your outstanding academic achievements.
If you are a sophomore or junior, interested in pursuing honors your senior year, now is a good time to look for a lab position. You can get some tips on how to find a lab on our research page, or talking to a staff or peer advisor.
What are the Requirements of the Honors Program?
- Students must have (and maintain) a 3.3 GPA overall AND in the IB major.
- Honors students are required to take two semesters of Honors courses: H196A and H196B (3 units each, letter-graded).
- Students, accepted into the Honors sequence, design and carry out a biology-related independent research project in consultation with a principal investigator (a.k.a. PI: the person in whose lab students are performing research).
- Honors students are allowed to conduct research in either on-campus and off-campus labs (on campus labs do NOT necessarily have to be research in an IB lab).
- Students who are working in non-IB labs are required to have both a PI and an IB faculty sponsor.
- Submit an Honors thesis after completing two Honors courses.
- The thesis should summarize the work students have done and the results students have obtained.
- Students must submit their thesis to both their PI and IB faculty sponsor.
- Sample theses are available for viewing in the IB USSO.
- For more information regarding composing a thesis please visit: (link to be added soon!)
- All Honors students enrolled in honors in their spring semester are required to present a poster describing their findings at Cal Day (a public event held each April).
- The cost for printing posters is covered by the department.
- For more information regarding creating a poster please visit: (link to be added soon!)
**Honors students PI and Faculty sponsor will correspond with one another to give students a letter grade for each honors course, research project, thesis and poster. Students are required to submit their project and thesis to both their PI and Faculty sponsor.
What is the Application Process?
- An application form can be obtained from the IB USSO or online at our forms page.
- Most students conduct their honors projects over the course of their senior year, taking H196A in fall and H196B in spring. Other options (e.g. summer and fall) are possible, if arranged in advance.
- All applications, regardless of semester, are due by the end of the 5th week of the semester.
How Do I Get More Information?
- Come into the USSO and speak with an advisor!
IB Info
Thank you for your interest!
Integrative Biology
UC Berkeley
1005 Valley Life Sciences
Berkeley CA
General Inquires