In addition to the course requirements, all BCBP majors must complete the BCBP Capstone Experience. Year after year, students comment that this is one of the best parts about being a BCBP major! Sure, you have to work hard during the capstone, but that work leads to an amazing amount of growth.

Capstone Experience:

1. Attend 6 or more BCBP approved seminars during your senior year. Seniors should register attendance via the Google Form: BCBP Seminars for Comprehensive Requirement.  Seminars that count toward this requirement are listed as BCBP seminars.  

2. Complete the BCBP capstone course, BCBP 400 (Molecular and Cellular Biophysics), with a grade of D or higher.

3. Present a research article to two faculty members.

  • For thesis writers, the presentation should be completed before the end of the Fall semester. Thesis writers can petition to complete the presentation in the spring semester by emailing the BCBP Chair. For all other senior majors, the presentation should be completed before the end of the Spring semester. Those completing the requirement in the spring semester must attend a paper presentation workshop.
  • To complete the presentation requirement, students must: i) read the paper thoroughly, ii) look up aspects about the paper that they didn’t understand, iii) make a presentation, iv) come prepared to the presentation, v) give the presentation, and vi) answer questions during the presentation. The intent is that students will take "ownership" of the paper during the presentation.
  • To start the process, students will select their paper and three possible days for their presentation. Then, they should email the BCBP Academic Department Coordinator with the selected paper, the three possible dates, and all of the times on the three days that are available for the presentation. Students can choose one date during a break, weekend, or final exam period. Students will receive an email back with the date/time of the presentation and the approval of the paper.
  • Papers must be regular journal articles (not review papers or news articles) that are in the field of biochemistry or biophysics. Papers can be related to the thesis topic. Papers cannot have been studied in a previous class. Students can select a paper from our repository of papers on the Moodle page.
  • Seniors will be automatically enrolled in our Moodle page on the Capstone Experience. This site will include the paper repository, details about the presentation workshop, information on how to study, and helpful videos .

If you are pursuing thesis work in BCBP, please visit the “Information for Thesis Students” page for further thesis-specific BCBP requirements.