The College of Integrative Sciences (CIS) aims to equip students with the creative and quantitative skills needed to address current and emerging global challenges in science and technology. These challenges are multifaceted, requiring problem-solving approaches that integrate expertise from multiple perspectives.
The CIS promotes an interdisciplinary and integrative approach to scholarship and learning across mathematics and the life, physical, and behavioral sciences. By encouraging creative synergies among faculty and students of disparate disciplines, the CIS academic structure complements existing departments and has the flexibility to evolve with the needs of an ever-changing world.
Research is key to the CIS. With a faculty mentor, student researchers pursue inquiry-based learning that explores open questions and provides new perspectives. They develop the necessary problem-solving skills and build expertise at the frontiers of science. Through research, students are transformed from consumers into creators of knowledge.
Students interested in the CIS are advised to follow a course of study that emphasizes a core science background, achieved by pursuing a major in one of the departments or programs in natural science and mathematics (NSM). The linked major offered by the CIS combines the intellectual depth in one area (the major) with breadth achieved through courses and research in the linked major.