You can read the article “What’s Happening to the Monarch Butterfly Population?” @nytimes to learn more!

photo courtesy of the Schultz lab

Ever wonder about the importance of your college courses? For Biology and Zoology majors in the School of Biological Sciences at WSU Biol 106 (Organismal Biology) is a foundational class that will set you up for success throughout your remaining upper level classes in your degree.

Ideally, Biol 106 should be taken within the first year at WSU and is described in the WSU course catalog as “Biology of organisms: plants, animals, ecology and evolution.” This course introduces the diversity of life on our planet, how it evolved, how different organisms interact and the physiology of plants and animals.

“My advice is to embrace it all. Be open minded,” said Dr. Ritchie, a Biol 106 professor. “There may be some aspects you think will be more exciting than others but be prepared to be surprised. Even if you took biology in high school be ready to work hard, we know a lot about how life works, and this is just part of the introductory sequence.”

Students are advised to consider Biol 106 and 107 as a backpack of knowledge, understanding and skills to fill and take with them as they move forward to the next level. The better students master foundational classes the more prepared they will be for the next level. These foundational classes will offer students valuable study skills and a more scientific way of thinking.

“The more you use muscles the stronger and more efficient they get,” said Dr. Ritchie, “The more you practice a skill the better you get. Biol 106 and 107 are the training camp to get your brain fit and ready for the journey into the amazing world of life on Earth.”

Please congratulate our own Robyn Reeve for winning the College of Arts and Sciences qualifier of the Three Minute Thesis Contest.  Her presentation won both 1st place overall as well as the “People’s Choice” award.  She will receive $1500 in fellowship funding for Fall 2020 and will represent CAS in the WSU-wide 3MT Competition on Wednesday, March 25 in the SPARK Atrium.  The title of her winning presentation was “Leptin: integrator of immune response and regeneration.” If you ask her for more details, it shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes of your time!