Biological phenomena occur at various levels of organization, ranging from molecules to organisms, populations, and ecosystems. As integrative biologists, we aspire to approach biological problems in a way that incorporates information across various levels of organismal organization. Much of our work is unified by evolutionary principles, in that all organisms share a history of descent with modification, inferred through their characteristics and mediated by natural selection.
We strive to uphold the highest professional standards of scholarship in our contributions to the research, teaching, and public service missions of the University. We believe academic strength comes not only from our integrative approach to the study of biology, but also from having a faculty whose breadth of scientific interests and methodological approaches span dimensions across the biological sciences. Our teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels emphasizes the development of critical thinking skills. We nurture these skills across a wide spectrum of courses — from large enrollment courses to small classroom, laboratory, and field settings — where students and faculty are partners in discovery. Training today’s students to become tomorrow’s physicians, educators, researchers, and citizens is central to the mission of UC Berkeley’s Department of Integrative Biology.