Bachelor of Molecular Environmental Biology at University of California, Berkeley

Bachelor of Science (BS)

The Molecular Environmental Biology (MEB) major is designed to expose students to the organization and function of biological organisms. Molecular approaches are expected to play an increasing role in environmental problem-solving in the near future, and their success will depend upon a sound understanding of biological principles from molecular through ecological levels. The program trains students in the organization and function of biological organisms and their integration into the environment.

Declaring the Major

Advice on admission for freshmen and transfer students can be found on the Rausser College Admissions Guide page or the Rausser College Prospective Student website. Freshman students may apply directly to the major, or they may select the Rausser College of Natural Resource's undeclared option and declare the major by the end of their fourth semester. Transfer students apply directly to the major through the UC application.

Information for current Berkeley students who would like to declare the major after admission, including information on change of major or change of college, please see chapter 6 of the Rausser College of Natural Resources Undergraduate Student Handbook. Students can meet with peer advisors or academic advisors for full guidance. 

• There is a 3.0 GPA requirement to transfer into the Rausser College of Natural Resources from other colleges on campus.
• Required pre-requisite courses to declare the Molecular Environmental Biology major are: Reading & Composition Part A and Part B, Chemistry 1A/1AL and 3A/3AL, one semester of Biology (1A/1AL or 1B), Math 1A or 16A or 10A, and a second quantitative course in either Math (1B, 16B, 10B) or Statistics (STAT 2, C8, 20, 131A, PB HLTH 141, 142, W142).
  • It is recommended that students complete the ESPM lower-division core courses prior to declaring.
• Undeclared students in Rausser College must declare a major by the end of their fourth semester. Failure to declare a major by junior standing will result in a registration block on further enrollment.
• Current UC Berkeley students who entered as freshmen are expected to be able to graduate in a total of 8 semesters (summers excluded). Exceptions are rarely granted. Students should be progressing in major requirements each semester.
• All major requirements must be taken for a letter grade and passed with a C- or better (including breadth). Please see the College Requirements page for any exceptions to this policy.
• Both halves of the Reading and Composition requirement must be completed by the end of the fourth semester. 

Honors Program

Students with a grade point average (GPA) of 3.6 or higher may enroll in the Rausser College of Natural Resources Honors Program (ESPM H196) once they have reached upper-division standing. To fulfill the program requirements, students design, conduct, and report on an individual research project working with a faculty sponsor. For further information on registering for the Honors Symposium and on Honors requirements, please see the Rausser College of Natural Resources website.

Minor Program

There is no minor program in Molecular Environmental Biology.

Other Majors and Minors Offered by the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

Conservation and Resource Studies (Major and Minor)
Environmental Sciences (Major only)
Food Systems (Minor only)
Ecosystem Management and Forestry (Major and Minor)
Geospatial€‹ Information Science and Technology (Minor only)
Society and Environment (Major only)

Visit Department Website

Molecular Environmental Biology (MEB) focuses on biological organisms and the hierarchy of life, from molecules and genes through cells, organisms, communities, and ecosystems. The breadth of this biological science program provides an important perspective for students who have a passion for biology and are interested in the application of biological principles to understand how organisms function in their environment. Also a pre-medical or pre-health science major, the discipline offers an array of six areas of concentration within biology: animal health and behavior, biodiversity, ecology, environmental and human health, global change biology, and insect biology/arthropod science.

Learning Goals for the Major

1. Holistic multidisciplinary thinking - understanding the "big picture"

   1. Interdisciplinarity & Cross-disciplinarity: The ability to understand and work across different disciplines (cross-disciplinarity) and to integrate the knowledge and methods from them (interdisciplinarity)

   2. Multiple processes: Recognition that biology and the environment involve multiple processes, as do solutions to modern problems

   3. Interconnectedness: Understanding that biology and the environment are interconnected at many spatial, temporal, and hierarchical levels

   4. Global and international approaches: Appreciating that the environment is necessarily global in nature and solutions to problems require international approaches

2. Training in the hierarchy of biology

   1. Fundamentals of Science: Training in the cores areas of physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics

   2. Quantitative skills: Necessary tools for addressing biological problems

   3. Biochemistry: An understanding of the fundamentals of biological chemistry, including the properties of intermediary metabolites, the structure and function of biological macromolecules, and the logical basis of genetics and gene expression

   4. Molecular biology/Genetics: The molecular biology of bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic cells and their viruses, mechanisms of DNA replication, transcription, translation, nuclear and organellar genome structure and function, regulation of gene expression, heritability, measures of selection, etc.

   5. Cell and developmental biology: Cell structure and function, cellular metabolic processes, embryonic and post-embryonic development and growth

   6. Organismal physiology: Understanding of physiological function, whether microbial, animal, or plant, or comparison between different systems

   7. Organismal diversity: Emphasis on the nature of diversity whether plant, animal, fungus, protist, bacteria, or virus, the history of the lineages and life itself, global threats, how diversity is distributed, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that generate and maintain diversity.

   8. Ecology: The nature of interactions, biotic or abiotic, that dictate organismal distributions in space and time, energy flows, or population dynamics

   9. Laboratory experiences: Laboratory experiences allow students to gain hands-on experience in scientific approaches and methods

3. Analysis and application for students who choose the Animal Health & Behavior area of concentration

   1. Interaction of health and environment: Understanding how the environment, whether internal or external, affects organism health and behavior

   2. Expertise in health: Examination of the health of organisms from either physiological or environmental perspectives

   3. Epizootics: An appreciation of the potential for diseases in animal populations to spill over into humans as is the case in avian influenza or even the origins of HIV

4. Analysis and application for students who choose the Biodiversity area of concentration

   1. Biodiversity science: Detailed understanding of morphological and ecological diversity of a given organismic lineage

   2. Origins and evolution of life: Basic understanding of systematics and phylogenetics

   3. Quantifying biology: Knowledge of various sampling and species identification techniques to collect data

   4. Informatics:  Proficiency in database development and management

5. Analysis and application for students who choose the Ecology area of concentration

   1. Principles of Ecology: Detailed understanding of ecological principles including energy flow, hydrologic, and mineral cycles, factors limiting species distribution and population size, and characteristics of species, populations, and communities

   2. Ecological interactions: Interactions relevant to different organismic groups.

   3. Biodiversity: Understanding of the biology of species, communities, and ecosystems.

6. Analysis and application for students who choose the Environment & Human Health area of concentration.

   1. Interaction of health and environment: Understanding of how the environment affects human health and well-being.

   2. Disease: Environmental epidemiology and the impacts of disease.

   3. Diet: Effects of nutrition and diet on human health.

7. Analysis and application for students who choose the Global Change Biology area of concentration.

   1. Global change biology expertise: How changes to the global environment impacts organisms and ecosystems, including impacts to spatial and temporal distributions of organisms, ecological processes, and ecosystem functions.

   2. Global change and the environment: Global change biology in environmental science, including effects of human activities and impacts on human health and well-being.

   3. Environmental problem solving: Conservation and mitigation strategies, ecological analysis, and natural resource economics

8. Analysis and application for students who choose the Insect Biology/Arthropod Science area of concentration.

   1. Insects/arthropods and biodiversity science: Understanding of major groups of insects/arthropods, relationships, and diversity.

   2. Insects/arthropods and environmental science: Knowledge of the impacts of insects/arthropods (positive and negative) in the environment.

   3. Quantifying insects/arthropods and biology: Skills in collecting and identifying insects/arthropods

9. Basic skills in research, analysis, communication.

   1. Reading carefully: Ability to read for detail and comprehension.

   2. Writing accurately: Ability to write succinctly, clearly, and coherently.

   3. Thinking critically: Critical thinking through the synthesis of biological knowledge from courses and lab work.

   4. Using theoretical and empirical knowledge: Ability to synthesize and apply information obtained through theory and observations.

   5. Quantitative skills: Obtaining the quantitative skills necessary for the subdisciplines.

   6. Analysis: Ability to perceive, tackle, and solve problems in environmental science.

   7. Research experience: Research experience to practice scientific approaches and methods. Work with a faculty mentor while participating in an undergraduate research program or designing an individual research project. Share research results or work in progress in the form of a paper, report, research poster, or public presentation.

   8. Communication: Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, to prepare for independent research work or team projects.

10. Lifetime skills.

    1. Continuing appreciation for biological systems: To develop a passion for biology and its interconnections with the environment.

    2. Representing science: To become an advocate for the training and knowledge of science, particularly the biological disciplines.

    3. Problem-solving: To develop and practice scientific thinking and problem-solving skills, through data analysis, hypothesis testing, and critical reasoning, that translate to future careers inside and outside of biology.