Our mission is to create leaders in service, research, and education. Our department is characterized by the breadth and depth of our research and training programs and by our collective intellectual inquisitiveness, which drives us to employ varied approaches in exploring and understanding all levels of biological organization, from the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels to the ecosystem, landscape, and global levels. We combine experimental, comparative, descriptive, and theoretical approaches to integrate, synthesize, and communicate newly acquired knowledge. Research and scholarship provide the structure for teaching and learning in our undergraduate and graduate programs as we strive to attract the best students to our graduate program and to provide Ph.D. students with opportunities to excel in research and teaching. We are profoundly committed to improving equal access to science education and to increasing the scientific literacy of our culture. We consequently prepare undergraduate and graduate students for careers in the medical profession, allied health, environmental science, research, and teaching. Our goal in science research, teaching, and service is to expand the current limits of biological knowledge and to promote its successful use in local, national, and international communities.