BS Computer Science with a Specialization in Bioinformatics
This page updated March 27, 2012.
Four-Year Plan for B.S. Computer Science with a Specialization in Bioinformatics
The explosion in biological knowledge spawned by the various genome projects has created entirely new fields and industries, and a need for trained computational biologists who are familiar with Biology, Mathematics, and Computer Sciences.
The Computer Science and Engineering Department offers rigorous, interdisciplinary training in the new and rapidly evolving field of bioinformatics. Bioinformatics refers to advanced computational and experimental methods that model the flow of information (genetic, metabolic and regulatory) in living systems to provide an integrated understanding of the system properties of organisms.
Many graduates in this degree go on to graduate school, medical school or choose careers that involve the design of software systems to further the study in computational molecular biology, bioinformatics, proteomics, approximational algorithms, human genome, human proteome, protein identification, Expressed Sequence Tags (EST) analysis, and also employment in biotech companies.
| Year | Fall | Winter | Spring |
| First Year | CSE 8A & CSE 8AL, or CSE 11 Math 20A Chem 6A GE |
CSE 12 Math 20B Chem 6B BILD 1 GE |
BILD 94 Math 20C Chem 6C Chem 7L GE |
| Second Year | CSE 21 BILD 2 Phys 2A GE |
Math 20F Phys 2B Chem 140A GE |
Chem 140B BIBC 103 Phys 2C GE |
| Third Year | CSE 100 BICD 100 BIBC 102 or Chem 114B BIMM 100 or Chem 114D |
CSE 101 Math 186 GE GE |
CSE 181 BIMM 101 or Chem 112B BICD 110 BIBC 110 or Chem 127 |
| Fourth Year | CSE 182 BENG 183 CSE Technical Elective GE |
CSE 184 CSE Technical Elective CSE Technical Elective GE |
BIMM 185 CSE Technical Elective CSE Technical Elective GE |
| B.S. Computer Science with a Specialization in Bioinformatics |
152 units | ||
| Courses | Lower Division (64 units) | Courses | Upper Division (88 units) |
| CSE 8B or CSE 11, Intro. Programming Java | CSE 100, Adv. Data Structures | ||
| CSE 12, Data Structures & Object-Oriented Prog. | CSE 101, Design & Analysis Algorithms | ||
| CSE 21, Math for Algorithms & Analysis | Chem 140A, Organic Chemistry I | ||
| BILD 1, The Cell | Chem 140B, Organic Chemistry II | ||
| BILD 2, Multicellular Life | BIBC 102, Metabolic Biochemistry or Chem 114B, Biochemical Energetics & Metabolism |
||
| BILD 94, Prof. Issues in Bioinformatics | BIBC 103, Biochemical Techniques | ||
| Math 20A, Calculus/Sci & Engr. | BICD 100, Genetics | ||
| Math 20B, Calculus/Sci & Engr. | BIMM 100, Molecular Biology or Chem 114D, Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry |
||
| Math 20C, Calc. & Analytical Geometry/Sci. & Engr. | BIMM 101, Recombinant DNA Tech. or Chem 112B, Molecular Biochemistry Lab |
||
| Math 20F, Linear Algebra | BICD 110, Cell Biology | ||
| Phys 2A, Mechanics | BIBC 110, Physical Biochemistry or Chem 127, Physical Chemistry |
||
| Phys 2B, Electricity & Magnetism | Bioinformatics Series: | ||
| Phys 2C, Fluids, Waves, Thermodynamics & Optics | CSE 181, Molecular Sequence Analysis | ||
| Chem 6A, General Chemistry I | CSE 182, Biological Databases | ||
| Chem 6B, General Chemistry II | BENG 183, Applied Genomic Technologies | ||
| Chem 6C, General Chemistry III | CSE 184, Computational Molecular Biology | ||
| Chem 6BL, Gen. Chem. Lab (or 7L, Gen. Chem. Lab, starting fall 2010) | BIMM 185, Bioinformatics Lab (Advanced) | ||
| |
Math 186, Probability & Statistics in Bioinformatics | ||
| Upper Division Electives: Select at least one course from each of the three groups for a total of five electives. Group 1: CSE 30, CSE 111, CSE 131, CSE 131A, CSE 131B, CSE 134A or CSE 135 Group 2: CSE 105, CSE 150, CSE 151 or Math 184A Group 3: CSE 132A, CSE 132B or CSE 133 |
|||
| CSE Elective | |||
| CSE Elective | |||
| CSE Elective | |||
| CSE Elective | |||
| CSE Elective | |||
CSE Major Advisors
The CSE Department has two major advisors to assist students.
Students with last names between A-L will contact Viera Kair at the Virtual Advising Center or go to the CSE Building (EBU3B), room 1236. You may also call 858/822-1535.
Students with last names between M-Z will contact Pat Raczka at the Virtual Advising Center or go to the CSE Building (EBU3B), room 1238. You may also call 858-534-3621.
CSE Advisory Exam
Students with previous programming experience in a compiled language may start with CSE 11, all others, should begin with CSE 3, or CSE 8A and CSE 8AL. Not sure which class to start with? Take the CSE Advisory Exam to find out which class you should enroll into.
Program Notes
- CSE 15L is waived
- CSE 20 is waived for CSE 21
- CSE 30 is waived for CSE 100
- BILD 94 is recommended in the first year of study, normally in the spring. This course gives an overview of issues and topics of bioinformatics
- CSE 181 is cross-listed with BIMM 181 and BENG 181
- CSE 182 is cross-listed with BIMM 182, BENG 182 and Chem 182
- CSE 184 is cross-listed with BIMM 184 and BENG 184
- BENG 183, BIMM 185 and Math 186 are not cross-listed courses
Technical Electives Requirement
- Students must take five technical electives for a total of 20 units, see above
- As of Fall 2010, 4 units of CSE 197 may be used toward technical elective credit
- As of Fall 2010, 8 units of CSE 198, CSE 199 or CSE 199H may be used toward technical elective credit
- In addition, students can use CSE graduate courses for technical elective credit with approval. Once a CSE graduate course is used for an undergraduate degree that course may not be reused for a graduate degree
Degree Policies
All major requirements and technical electives, except CSE 197, CSE 198 or CSE 199, must be taken for a letter grade. To graduate, a grade point average of 2.0 is required in the upper division major requirements including the technical electives.
