Student Handbook
Please keep this handbook for reference throughout your time at the University of South Carolina Aiken. Graduation requirements may change in the future, but you will only need to meet those in effect at the time you first enroll. This handbook does not replace the official requirements listed in the Academic Bulletin.
Research Labs
At USCA, Biology and Environmental Earth Systems majors can immerse themselves in undergraduate research from their first year. Align your interests with a faculty member’s research area and participate in impactful projects through courses like BIOL 498, which integrates research design and senior seminar, or BIOL/GEOL 490 and 499, focusing on applied research.
You can delve into diverse research fields including Developmental Biology, Earth Surface Processes, Conservation Biology, Nutrition and Neurobiology, Paleoceanography and Marine Geology, Invasive Plant Ecology, Aquatic Biology and Parasitology, Environmental Toxicology, Fisheries Ecology, Molecular Biology and Immunology, and Plant Genetics.
Scholarships
Departmental scholarships are awarded annually in the areas of Biology and Geology. Scholarship recipients are selected based on several criteria that may include scholarship requirements, financial need, academic performance, and areas of interest/work. Some awards depend on donor funds and may not be available yearly.
Students: Scholarship requests must be accompanied by a Faculty recommendation. Before completing the Scholarship application, arrange for a faculty member to provide support. Once you have finished and submitted the Student Scholarship application, inform the Faculty member, who will then provide your recommendation.
Faculty: Complete the FACULTY RECOMMENDATION FORM (PDF) form to accompany student Scholarship applications. Forward the completed Faculty recommendation form directly to Holly Bradham via email to holly.bradham@usca.edu.
Seminar Series
The Department of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences offers an ongoing seminar series throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. Our speakers join Department of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences undergraduate research students in offering an in-depth series of seminars that provide the latest information on a wide array of topics.
All seminars take place in SCI 327 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. on the dates listed.
Date |
Speaker |
Organization |
Topic/Title |
| 16-Jan | NO SEMINAR | ||
| 23-Jan | Professor Brad Reinhart | USCA | Safety Training |
| 30-Jan | Emily Osborne, PhD | SeaGrant | Charting Seas of Change - Supporting Community-Relevant Coastal Science in South Carolina |
| 6-Feb | CJ Tsai, PhD | UGA | In vitro flowering as a design-build-test-learn chassis to reimagine reproductive trait engineering in poplar |
| 13-Feb | Emily Baumann, Marine Science Laboratory Manager | USC | Learning from Where We Are: Place-Based Education in an Introductory Environmental Science Laboratory |
| 20-Feb | AU Grad Students | AU | Augusta University Biomedical Sciences PhD Students: Andrew Gregory, Breanna Kennedy, and Hannah Godley-Boswell |
| 27-Feb | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 6-Mar | Mary Beard | UGA | TBA |
| 13-Mar | Spring Break | Spring Break | Spring Break |
| 20-Mar | Madison Carelock, PhD Candidate | University of Florida | PROTACs: A multimodal drug targeting strategy to combat cancer |
| 27-Mar | John Robinson, PhD | UGA | Abundance and genetic diversity of black bears in central Georgia |
| 3-Apr | Andy Dyer, PhD | USCA | Ecology as an integrating system for all sciences |
| 10-Apr | Student Seminars | Student Seminars | |
| 17-Apr | Scholar Showcase | Student Seminars | |
| 24-Apr | Discover USC | Student Seminars |