• Silphium

    Silphium (Prairie dock) from a local roadside

  • Ichneumonid Wasp

    Ichneumonid Wasp-Common Parasitoid of Native Blue Cactus Borer Larvae

  • Water Lilies

    Water Lilies at the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge

  • Native Blue on Host

    Adult native Blue cactus Borer Hanging on Host Plant

  • Crow's Neck

    Summer undergraduate researchers relaxing at Crow's Neck

  • Students Working-Microbiology Research Lab

    Graduate and Undergraduate Students Hard at Work in Microbiology Research Lab

  • Sipsey Trip

    Overnight field trip to Sipsey Wilderness Area

Departmental News

(2012-05-03) Dr. Mark Welch April Researcher of the Month for Arts & Sciences - Dr. Mark Welch, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, received the College of Arts & Sciences Researcher of the Month Award for April.

Dr.Welch's current areas of research include molecular mechanisms that hasten evolutionary rates in sunflowers, and factors that govern the survival of small populations of iguanas. He was recently notified that he will be awarded an NSF grant (approximately $370,000 over 3 years) to fund his proposed sunflower research.

Dr. Welch is also extremely interested in providing undergraduate students with research experiences. Since his arrival at MSU in 2007, he has had 15 undergraduate students work in his lab. These students have received a combined total of more than $15,000 in grants, scholarships and awards for research, and six have been co-authors on refereed journal articles. He is a founding member of the Biology Undergraduate Research Program (BURP) and has coordinated this program since its inception 5 years ago.

(2012-04-20) Ph.D. Student Receives Two Teaching Assistant Awards - Lavanya Challagundla, Ph.D. student in Biological Sciences, recently received the Biological Sciences Department 2012 Ph.D. Teaching Assistant of the Year Award as well as the MSU 2012 Donald Zacharias Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Award. Ms. Challagundlas's Major Professor is Dr. Lisa Wallace.

(2012-04-20) MSU Women's Club Scholarship - Andrea Rodgers, Biological Sciences Master's student, was recently awarded the Spring 2012 MSU Women's Club Scholarship. The award goes to female masters and doctoral students who demonstrate records of excellence in academics, leadership and service.

(2012-04-20) Biological Sciences Master's Teaching Assistant Award - Steven Shaak, Biological Sciences Master's student, is the recipient of the Biological Sciences Department 2012 Master's Teaching Assistant of the Year Award. Mr. Shaak's Major Professor is Dr. Brian Counterman.

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Contact Info

Department of Biological Sciences
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS 39762

Mailstop: 9536
Mail: PO Box GY

TEL: 662.325.3120
FAX: 662.325.7939

FedEx/UPS Shipping:
219 Harned Hall, 295 Lee Blvd,
Mississippi State, MS 39762

Welcome

The Department of Biological Sciences at Mississippi State University is home to 25 instructors and tenure-track faculty and more than 1,000 graduate and undergraduate students. We offer three B.S. degrees (Biological Sciences, Microbiology, and Medical Technology) and three graduate degrees (an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences and an M.S. in General Biology, a distance program for science teachers).

Research in the Department represents the breadth of the Biological Sciences, including work in Cellular and Developmental Biology, Microbiology, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Our faculty have received research funding from all major federal funding agencies, as well as many state and private funding sources, and we have nationally respected faculty in each of the major research disciplines named above.

We invite you to browse the information provided here and to contact any of us with questions you may have about our work or potential studies in Biology at MSU.