As the biology major splits, benefits multiply

Starting this semester, students in the formerly immense and unwieldy biology department will have the option of choosing between two different majors: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB).

The department's split, which had been discussed for more than three years, has opened up new opportunities for upperclassmen who were once biology majors as well as for underclassmen just beginning their studies in the biological sciences.

"About 40 years ago, Yale used to have the zoology and botany departments, and they joined together," Professor Robert Wyman, Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) of MCDB, said. "But with all the developments in biology, it's become too big of a turf for one group of people to cover. We split the department in order to establish departments of reasonable size in terms of intellectual terrain, faculty, and students."

The former biology department encompased all aspects of the biological sciences. The two new departments, however, have more specialized concentrations. According to Wyman, MCDB focuses on how organisms develop and function as individuals, while EEB concentrates on community ecological organization.

As for graduate and professional preparation, the departments attend to different needs. Wyman said that most premeds and students interested in pursuing research will flock to the MCDB department, since its course offerings are more oriented toward the medical sciences.

According to Wyman, students who major in EEB are likely to go on to law and medical school, concentrating on topics related to the environment, or else choose to work in zoos, museums, and conservation organizations.

Wyman also noted that the department was divided between MCDB and EEB because "one half of the faculty does molecular evolution and the other half does developmental evolution. The borderline is not intellectually rational, nor would any other border be."

The split also represents the University's interest in ecological matters. "This is an effort by the University to increase the quality and overall presence of ecology and evolutionary biology on campus," Jeffrey Powell, DUS of EEB, said. Powell had been the DUS of the biology department at the time of the split. "The University has tried various ways of growing this area of biology in the context of a larger biology department and we were never very successful."

The University's support of this endeavor was articulated in a statement made by President Richard Levin, GRD '74, and Provost Alison Richard in their formal announcement of the formation of the EEB department in late October 1996.

Levin and Richard explained in a letter, "Advances in the biological sciences are providing major new insights into the processes governing life, from the level of the molecule to that of whole communities of plants and animals...Yale students have a right to expect an education that encompasses this range of study, and we have an obligation to provide it."

According to faculty members and students, the split in the department represents an increase in student opportunity with minimum negative impact. Key among these is the added flexibility offered students. "The split will give students some more options," Wyman said. "Each individual department will focus a little more on what they're interested in, and students will gain a bit by the better focus in each department. In addition, they will no longer be required to look at both parts of biology."

Upperclassmen who had been biology majors until this year's department split were faced with three options when they returned after their summer vacation. They could either stick with the biology major or switch to one of the two new departments. Regardless of their decision, most students seem to feel that the split was nothing but beneficial to students.

Neeman Mohibullah, BR '99, who decided to switch to the MCDB major, said, "I really don't like evolutionary biology, and I heard that it was not one of the better taught subjects. I want to go to graduate school for molecular biology, so it's nice that I don't have to take any more classes in EEB."

"MCDB is a better description of the work I'm doing, which is basically all cellular or physiological biology," former biology and current MCDB major Jill Catalanotti, SY '99, said. "Besides the confusion of having all my courses renamed, there are no problems."

Rebecca Pace, BR '00, decided to stick with the biology major. "I had already started all of the biology requirements and I had already planned out my schedule in advance," she said. "But the split is definitely beneficial. There are many more courses, and more individual attention to areas in which students are interested. The biology department was lacking in breadth of course offerings, and this split should fix that."

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