University of St. Thomas

Welcome to the biology facts page, where you'll be taken beyond the course offerings and program description and deeper into the biology major. You'll learn what St. Thomas students are doing now to enhance their educations and how recent graduates are succeeding in the real world. More importantly, we hope you'll be able to use this information to decide if this major interests you.

The possibilities are extremely diverse and depend on what type of biology you most enjoy. The career options for students interested in, say, microbiology, are very different from those for students interested in conservation biology. Our advice is that you identify the areas of biology that most interest you during your first couple of years at college, and then discuss your career options with professors who teach in those areas.

Melissa Konsti graduated from UST with a B.A. in biology in 2004. She obtained an M.S. degree in zoology from North Dakota State University in 2007, where her thesis work focused on food-web ecology of shallow lakes. She is currently a fisheries biologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Lanesboro, MN. Her work focuses on ecology and management of stream ecosystems and trout populations in southeastern Minnesota. The broad range of courses and the research opportunities offered at St. Thomas exposed Melissa to a wide range of biological disciplines and allowed her to make a well-educated decision about her chosen career.

Internships. These range widely from hospital internships for students interested in the health professions, to industrial internships at a variety of regional biomedical companies, to field-based internships with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, among many others. Whatever their interests, students will be assisted in their search for internship experiences by their academic advisor.

Study abroad. Study abroad in biology allows students to experience plants, animals, ecosystems and human cultures that are very different from those found in the upper Midwest, to understand how these ecosystems and cultures function, and to learn about the challenges of trying to preserve the earth's biodiversity for future generations.