Program: Computational Biology, BS - University of Pittsburgh

Computational Biology Requirements

Computational biology is a growing field of study in the life sciences. This major, which is administered by the Department of Biological Sciences in the Dietrich School and the Department of Computer Science in the School of Computing and Information, trains students in the computer programming, laboratory techniques, and other skills they will need to succeed in graduate school and in the workforce. This major requires completion of 64 credits of coursework, detailed as follows.

Students may declare a major in Computational Biology after completing the following courses or their equivalents with a letter grade of C or higher.

BIOSC 0150 - FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY 1
BIOSC 0160 - FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY 2
CHEM 0110 - GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1
CHEM 0120 - GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2
CS 0011 - INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING FOR SCIENTISTS

Transfer students who have finished these requirements prior to admission to the University of Pittsburgh are asked to complete one term of course work, including at least one BIOSC course that counts toward the major, before declaring within the Dietrich School. Transfer students applying to the School of Computing and Information who have finished these requirements prior to admission to the University of Pittsburgh may be admitted directly into the major - note, transfer application requirements for SCI are outlined in the Catalog under “Admission Requirements and Procedures .”

Biological Sciences courses

All of the following courses are required for the major.

BIOSC 0150 - FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY 1 or
BIOSC 0155 - HONORS FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY 1
BIOSC 0160 - FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY 2 or
BIOSC 0165 - HONORS FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY 2
BIOSC 0350 - GENETICS
BIOSC 1000 - BIOCHEMISTRY
* Students may alternately choose BIOSC 1810 Macromolecular Structure and Function and BIOSC 1820 Metabolic Pathways and Regulation in lieu of BIOSC 1000 . BIOSC 1820 can then serve as an elective course.

Computer Science courses

All of the following courses are required for the major.

CS 0011 - INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING FOR SCIENTISTS
CMPINF 0401 - INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMING
CS 0441 - DISCRETE STRUCTURES FOR CS
CS 0445 - ALGORITHMS AND DATA STRUCTURES 1
CS 1501 - ALGORITHMS AND DATA STRUCTURES 2
CS 1656 - INTRODUCTION TO DATA SCIENCE

Computational Biology courses

All of the following courses are required for the major.

BIOSC 1540 - COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
BIOSC 1542 - COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS or
BIOSC 1544 - SIMULATION AND MODELING
BIOSC 1630 - COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY SEMINAR

Capstone course

Students must choose one of the following capstone courses.

BIOSC 1640 - COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY RESEARCH
CS 1640 - BIOINFORMATICS SOFTWARE DESIGN

Co-requisite Chemistry courses

All of the following courses are required for the major.

CHEM 0110 - GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1 or
CHEM 0710 - UHC GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1
CHEM 0120 - GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2 or
CHEM 0720 - UHC GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2
CHEM 0310 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 1 or
CHEM 0730 - UHC ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 1

Co-requisite Mathematics and Statistics courses

Both of the following courses are required for the major.

MATH 0220 - ANALYTIC GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS 1
STAT 1000 - APPLIED STATISTICAL METHODS
*Students may alternately choose CS 1503 Mathematical Foundations of Machine Learning, which also requires MATH 0280 Intro to Matrices & Linear ALG or MATH 1180 Linear Algebra 1 as prerequisite. MATH 0280 can then serve as an elective course.

Elective courses

Students must select one course from the following list.

BIOSC 0351 - GENETICS LABORATORY
BIOSC 0370 - ECOLOGY
BIOSC 1005 - INTRODUCTION TO BIOCHEMISTRY LAB
BIOSC 1130 - EVOLUTION
BIOSC 1285 - GENOMICS LABORATORY
BIOSC 1320 - POPULATION BIOLOGY
BIOSC 1470 - BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
BIOSC 1500 - CELL BIOLOGY
BIOSC 1520 - DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
BIOSC 1760 - IMMUNOLOGY
BIOSC 1820 - METABOLIC PATHWAYS AND REGULATION
* This course must be taken in conjunction with BIOSC 1810 MACROMOLECULAR STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION ; the pair of courses are taken in lieu of BIOSC 1000 BIOCHEMISTRY .
BIOSC 1850 - MICROBIOLOGY
BIOSC 1940 - MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
CHEM 0250 - INTRODUCTION TO ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
CHEM 0320 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 2
CHEM 1460 - INTRO MODERN COMPUTATIONAL SCI
CHEM 1830 - SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
CS 1502 - FORMAL METHODS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
CS 1520 - PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE FOR WEB APPLICATIONS
CS 1555 - DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
CS 1566 - INTRODUCTION COMPUTER GRAPHICS
CS 1675 - INTRODUCTION TO MACHINE LEARNING
MATH 0230 - ANALYTIC GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS 2
MATH 0280 - INTRO TO MATRICES & LINEAR ALG
NROSCI 1000 - INTRO TO NEUROSCIENCE
PHYS 0174 - BASIC PHYSICS, SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1 (INTEGRATED)
STAT 1221 - APPLIED REGRESSION

Additional Requirements

Writing (W) requirement

Dietrich School students must complete at least one W-course in the major. BIOSC 1630 - COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY SEMINAR meets this requirement.

Grade requirements

All courses offered by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science plus the elective course must be completed with a letter grade of C or better.

Co-Requisite courses

Students must complete co-requisite courses in the departments of Mathematics, Statistics, and Chemistry with an overall average of C or better, with the exceptions of CHEM 0110 GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1 and CHEM 0120 GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2 . Students must earn letter grades of C or better in each of these classes.

Honors

A Dietrich School student may achieve honors in the Department of Biological Sciences by meeting these requirements:

Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.25;
Complete a faculty-supported research project; and
Complete an Honors Thesis. Details about the required thesis are available at www.biology.pitt.edu/undergraduate/advising-and-support/honors.

A School of Computing and Information student may achieve honors in the Department of Computer Science by meeting these requirements:

Maintain a minimum overall GPA of 3.25; and
Maintain a major GPA (CS and Biological Science courses) of 3.5; and
Complete an additional major elective course with a grade of A.

Satisfactory/No Credit option

Only one core course required for the major (BIOSC/CS courses and the elective) may be taken on an S/NC basis. Co-requisite courses may be taken on an S/NC basis subject to School limitations.Please check with your School for specific information on S/NC grades.

Restrictions

Independent study and independent research credits do not count toward the major. The Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science encourages students to seek out these experiences in order to enhance their education.