Undergraduate Bioinformatics Degree at the University of Pittsburgh

### Application Closes

Rolling admissions (however, the School of Medicine Guaranteed Admissions Application Deadline is 1 December, and the Academic Scholarships Priority Review Application Deadline is 15 December)

## Coursework

### Core Level Courses (42 units)

* BIOSC 0150 - Foundations of Biology 1 (3 credits)
* BIOSC 0160 Foundations of Biology 2 (3 credits)
* BIOSC 0350 Genetics (3 credits)
* BIOSC 1810 Macromolecular Structure & Function (3 credits)

* CHEM 0310 Organic Chemistry 1 (3 credits)
* CHEM 0320 Organic Chemistry 2 (3 credits)

* MATH 0220 Analytical Geometry & Calculus 1 (4 credits)
* STAT 1000 Applied Statistical Methods (4 credits)
* STAT 1221 Applied Regression (3 credits)

* CS 0401 Intermediate Programming using JAVA (4 credits)
* CS 0445 Data Structures (3 credits)
* CS 0441 Discrete Structures for CS (3 credits)
* CS 1501 Algorithm Implementation (3 credits)

### Upper Level Courses (22 units)

* BIOSC 1540 Computational Biology (3 credits)
* BIOSC/CS 1640 Bioinformatics Software Design (3 credits)

* Undergraduate Research (4 credits)

* (12 units) to be chosen from an approved list of courses in Statistics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences and/or Computer Science. With the approval of the Bioinformatics Program Committee, the student may take other electives in other departments.

### Approved Course Electives

* Biological Sciences:
	+ BIOSC 1820 Metabolic Pathways and Regulation (3 credits)
	+ BIOSC 1830 Biochemistry Laboratory (3 credits)
	+ BIOSC 1940 Molecular Biology (3 credits)
	+ BIOSC 1950 Molecular Genetics Laboratory (2 credits)
	+ BIOSC 1500 Cell Biology (3 credits)
	+ BIOSC 1545 The Mathematics of Biology

* Chemistry:
	+ CHEM 1410 Physical Chemistry 1 (3 credits)
	+ CHEM 1420 Physical Chemistry 2 (3 credits)
	+ CHEM 1460 Introduction to Modern Computational Science (3 credits)
	+ CHEM 0250 Intro Analytical Chemistry (3 credits)

* Computer Science:
	+ CS 1510 Design and Analysis of Algorithms
	+ CS 1515 Scientific Computation
	+ CS 1520 Programming Languages for Web Applications
	+ CS 1555 Database Management Systems
	+ CS 1566 Computer Graphics
	+ CS 1571 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
	+ CS 1645 Introduction to High Performance Computing Systems

* Statistics:
	+ STAT 1301 Statistical Packages (3 credits)
	+ STAT 1311 Applied Multivariate Analysis (3 credits)
	+ STAT 1321 Applied Time Series (3 credits)

### General Requirements

* Capstone experience:
	+ Prior to graduation, all Bioinformatics majors must satisfy the Capstone Experience requirements through the new Bioinformatics course CS/BIOSC 1640.
* Restrictions:
	+ Bioinformatics majors who have completed CS 0401 may not enroll in CS 0004, CS 0007 or CS 0008.
* Writing (W) requirement:
	+ Students must complete at least one W-course in the major.
* Grade requirements:
	+ A grade of C or better is required in each of the Core Level and Upper Level Bioinformatics major courses that are to count toward the major (which also satisfies the A&S requirement of a minimum GPA of 2.0 in major courses).
* Satisfactory/No Credit option:
	+ No Bioinformatics major courses may be taken on an S/NC basis.
* Related area:
	+ Due to its interdisciplinary nature, the Bioinformatics major does not require a related area.

### Honors Major Requirements

Honors in Bioinformatics is granted if, in addition to fulfilling all requirements for the major, the student:

1. Three semesters (3 x 2 credits) or the equivalent (summer counts as a semester equivalent) of undergraduate research together with a written honors thesis presented in the last semester of the senior year.
2. Maintains a GPA of 3.5 or above in all Bioinformatics major courses
3. Maintains an overall GPA of 3.25 or above

## External Links

* Bioinformatics - Department of Biological Sciences - University of Pittsburgh
* Bioinformatics Major Requirements - Pitt Computer Science
* Major Worksheet: Bioinformatics - University of Pittsburgh