2024-2025 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog

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Bioinformatics and Genomics Graduate Certificate

• Requirements for the Certificate in Bioinformatics and Genomics

• Requirements for the Certificate in Bioinformatics and Genomics

Bioinformatics and genomics have become crucial components of life science research and industry (including biotechnology, medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry). Career options are already numerous and will become more plentiful in the future as part of the big data analytics field. Students trained in these novel techniques will be more competitive in their applications for jobs and graduate programs.

Admission

A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education is required, in addition to the following.

• Undergraduate life science experience (e.g., biology, genetics, or biochemistry).
• Submission of all required admission materials, including:
  • Completed graduate application for admission
  • Official copies of transcripts from all institutions of higher education previously attended (other than GVSU) Transcripts must be sent from those institutions directly to the GVSU Admissions Office
  • Resume
  • Personal statement of career goals and background experiences, including an explanation of how this program will help achieve educational and professional objectives.
  • For applicants whose native language is not English: Test scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), or IELTS (International English Language Testing System), or MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment Battery) or PTE Academic (Pearson Test of English Academic). The following minimum scores are expected: TOEFL is 80, IELTS is 6.5, MELAB is 77, and PTE Academic is 53. Alternatively, we will accept the successful completion of ELS 112 as demonstration of English language proficiency.

Requirements for the Certificate in Bioinformatics and Genomics

The certificate in bioinformatics and genomics requires a minimum of 12 credits (nine credits in the core and at least three credits of electives).

Core Courses

• CMB 551 - Bioinformatics: Tools and Techniques for Life Scientists (3 credits)
• CMB 552 - Computer Modeling and Drug Design (3 credits)
• CMB 560 - Genomics and Molecular Diagnostics (3 credits)

Elective Courses

Choose at least one:

• BIO 585/CMB 585 - Molecular Ecology (3 credits)
• STA 610 - Applied Statistics for Health Professions (3 credits)
• STA 622 - Statistical Methods for Biologists (3 credits)
• STA 631 - Statistical Modeling I (3 credits)
  • In addition:
    • STA 610 is a prerequisite for STA 616 - Statistical Programming (3 credits)
    • either STA 610, or STA 622, or STA 631 are accepted as prerequisites for:
      • STA 518 - Statistical Computing and Graphics with R (3 credits)
      • STA 526 - Multivariate Data Analysis (3 credits)
      • STA 623 - Categorical Data Analysis (3 credits)
• BIO 593 - Advanced Univariate Methods (3 credits)
• BIO 594 - Advanced Multivariate Methods (3 credits)
• CIS 611 - Introduction to Software Engineering (3 credits)
• CIS 635 - Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (3 credits)
• CIS 673 - Principles of Database Design (3 credits)
• CIS 677 - High-performance Computing (3 credits)
• CIS 678 - Machine Learning (3 credits)