For Current ISP Students

Please use the links on the right to navigate this section of the ISP web site.

General information for undergraduate students in the College of Science at the University of Arizona is available from the links below.

For practical information for UA Science undergraduates, please refer to the following.

Advising

For general advising information, please contact

Brian Smith
Academic Advisor, Sr.
Phone: (520) 621-8128
E-mail: bsmith@email.arizona.edu

For advising on elective courses and on the choice of a minor or second major, please contact your ISP faculty advisor. Current ISP faculty advisors are listed below.

Electives

The ISP program of study includes three science electives (A, B, and C). Students must choose one elective from each of the lists below.

ISP Elective A: Physical Science or Mathematics

CHEM 480A: Physical Chemistry (3 units)
PHYS 251: Introduction to Electricity and Magnetism (4 units)
PHYS 253: Introduction to Special Relativity and Quantum Theory (3 units)
PHYS 305: Computational Physics (3 units)
Or an ISP Advisor-approved advanced mathematics, computer science, physics, astronomy, or other physical science course

ISP Elective B: Biological Sciences

MCB 411: Molecular Biology (3-4 units)
ECOL 320: Genetics (4 units)
MCB 410: Cell Biology (3-4 units)
ECOL 302: Ecology (4 units)
ECOL 330: Evolution of Animal Form and Function (3-4 units)
Or an ISP Advisor-approved upper division course in the biological sciences

ISP Elective C: Interdisciplinary Science

MCB 407: Neurobiology (4 units)
GEOS 478: Global Change (3 units)
ASTR 400A: Theoretical Astrophysics (3 units)
ECOL 479: Art of Scientific Discovery (3 units)
PHIL 416: Philosophy of Mathematics, or PHIL 420: Philosophy of Science, or PHIL 421: Philosophy of the Biological Sciences, or PHIL 427: Philosophy of the physical sciences (3 units)
Or an ISP Advisor-approved upper division course that integrates multiple scientific disciplines

Course Substitutions

Substitutions are allowed, especially for transfer students, students who recently changed their major to ISP, or added ISP as a second major, or have more than one major. A list of most common substitutions is below. Please get approval from an ISP advisor before registering for a course that you intend to substitute for one of the courses listed in the ISP program of study.

Students who have taken Calculus I (MATH 124 or MATH 125) and Calculus II (MATH 129) may take Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations (MATH 254) or Analysis of Ordinary Differential Equations (MATH 355) in place of MATH 250A and 250B.
Students who have taken Introductory Biology (MCB 181R and ECOL 182R) are not required to take Key Concepts in Biology (IS 305).
Students who take Biochemistry (462A & 462B) are not required to take BIOC 460 (General Protein and General Metabolic Biochemistry).
Computer science courses that teach students to program using programming languages other than Java are most likely to be acceptable substitutions for C SC 227 (Program Design and Development), but are subject to approval by an ISP Advisor in the Computer Science Department.
Appropriate substitutions for courses listed under the Major Electives (A, B, and C) may also be made by ISP advisors.

Minor

The minor should be from a traditional department in the Colleges of Science, Engineering, Medicine, or Agriculture and Life Sciences, or from another field with approval from the director of the ISP. When combined with regular ISP courses, its purpose is to give students the required depth of education in a particular discipline. Examples of programs of study may be found below.

Second Major

ISP students who wish to do a second major should consult the links below, which give examples of programs of study leading to an ISP major and a second major in one of the College of Science deparments.

Research & Internships

ISP students need to perform the equivalent of 6 units of directed research. They also need to write a thesis and have it approved by an ISP advisor. Students are nevertheless encouraged to work on research projects at all stages of the undergraduate curriculum, and to apply for summer internships in companies or national laboratories.

Many programs on campus offer research opportunities for undergraduates. In most cases, the work may be done for credit or for pay. Below are links to some of these programs.

Information on summer programs and internships may be found below.

Internships & Outside Programs (listed by the Department of Mathematics)
NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site
UA Summer Research Institute (for students from under-represented backgrounds)
UA McNair Achievement Program (for students from under-represented backgrounds)
UA Minority Access to Research Careers

CoS Database of faculty offering undergraduate projects?

ISP Courses

IS 195: Introduction to Integrated Science (1 unit)

Description: This introductory colloquium will focus on learning to read and analyze papers in the scientific literature that demonstrate the integration of scientific disciplines. Students will learn how to read critically scientific papers and will have short writing assignments related to the topics of the papers. Students will be expected to make short presentations and to participate in discussions. Also, students will receive training in how to provide peer evaluation and how to do self evaluation.

IS 303: Explorations in Integrated Science (4 units)

Description: Students will learn to integrate knowledge and research approaches from multiple scientific disciplines through four laboratory- and lecture- based modules. Module topics currently include: protein synthesis and folding, biological motion, multiscale modeling, and entropy. Students will use MATLAB and other computer software to analyze data collected in the course. This is a Writing Emphasis Course.

Grading: Regular grades are awarded for this course: A B C D E.
Prerequisite(s): Satisfaction of the Mid-Career Writing Assessment (MCWA) or the former upper-division writing proficiency requirement (UDWPE); MATH 124 or MATH 125.
Typical structure: 3 hours lecture, 3 hours laboratory.
Identical to: MCB 303, PHYS 303, MATH 303.
Usually offered: Fall.

IS 305: Key Concepts in Biology (4 units)

Description: This course will be team taught by two faculty members – one from Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and one from Molecular and Cellular Biology or Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. The course will cover key concepts organized around contemporary issues in biology (for example: evolution of bacteria in human disease, natural selection and population diversity in relationship to global climate change, etc). Students will work on group projects, online assignments, presentations, and problem sets, as well as essays. Students will be expected to participate in class discussions and group problem solving sessions.

IS 395: Seminar in Integrated Science (1 unit)

Description: This colloquium will focus on reading and analysis of scientific literature that demonstrate the integration of scientific disciplines. Students will be expected to make short group presentations on scientific papers and on their directed research projects, and will be expected to participate in class discussions. The course will also include short writing assignments related to the topics of the papers. Peer and self evaluation will be part of the assessment used in this course.

IS 495: ISP Senior Seminar (2 units)

Description: This senior seminar will focus on review of students' thesis topics, scientific writing, critical reading of scientific literature, problem solving, and scientific presentations (using the topic of the thesis for the presentation). Students will also review their own electronic assessment portfolio with the professor teaching the senior seminar.