Students particularly interested in studying plants can take advantage of course offerings at Pomona College, the Joint Sciences Department of The Claremont Colleges, Harvey Mudd College, and the Botany Department of the Claremont Graduate University to construct a biology major with a strong emphasis in plant biology. Research opportunities for undergraduates are available with faculty at all of the institutions. More information is available at the Plant Biology at The Claremont Colleges website.
Claremont Plant Biology Faculty
- J. Travis Columbus, Claremont Graduate University
- Frances Hanzawa, Pomona College
- Fabien Jammes, Pomona College
- J. Mark Porter, Claremont Graduate University
- Bryan Thines, Keck Science Department
- Diane Thomson, Keck Science Department
Plant Biology Courses
The participating departments and programs offer a wide variety of plant biology courses, including anatomy and morphology, ecology and evolution, physiology, growth and development, systematics, phylogenetics, plant-animal interactions, molecular biology, and population genetics. Pomona courses include:
- Biology 1C: Biology of Garden Plants
- Biology 116: Ecology and Evolution of Plants with Laboratory
- Biology 166: Plant Physiology with Laboratory
Plant Biology Facilities
A wide variety of resources, facilities, and equipment for plant biology are available among the participating institutions. Some of these include:
- Pomona Biology Department:
- State of the art greenhouses and growth chambers
- Modern molecular and field biology laboratories
- Instrumentation for measuring variable fluorescence, gas exchange in leaves
- Flash spectrophotometry
- HPLC
- Ultracentrifuges
- Oxygen polarographs for measurements on isolated chloroplasts
- Digital microscopy facility
- Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (home of the Botany Department of the Claremont Graduate University):
- Comprehensive herbarium (over one million specimens)
- Wood and pollen slide collections
- Automated DNA sequencer
- Anatomy and imaging laboratory
- Long-term seed storage facilities
- Experimental plots
- Extensive California native living plant collections
- Robert J. Bernard Biological Field Station