Know your departments & majors
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Visit our YouTube channel!The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences(CNAS) is home to world-renowned scholars pursuing research that deepens our knowledge of the universe we live in and improves the quality of life for inhabitants of the state, the nation, and the globe. Inextricably bound up with this research is educating the students who come to CNAS to learn science, and who leave with an integrated grasp of how they can change the world. These students, and the faculty who teach them, benefit from a structure that is unique among land-grant colleges: CNAS’s 13 departments encompass the life, physical, mathematical, and agricultural sciences. This administrative unity encourages an extraordinary degree of collaboration, reflected in the 10 interdisciplinary research centers and the many cooperatively taught degree programs. Modern science is team based, and CNAS embodies that principle in everything it teaches and practices.
Biochemistry
Biochemists study life at the chemical, molecular, and cellular level. The Department of Biochemistry includes the following areas of concentration: molecular biology, physical biochemistry, molecular endocrinology, plant biochemistry & molecular biology, signal transduction, and biomedical research.
Major:
Biochemistry
Biology
Faculty and students in the Department of Biology are working in many areas of the life sciences, including animal behavior, behavioral endocrinology, bioinformatics, cell biology, conservation biology, developmental biology, ecology, evolution, molecular biology, physiology, population biology, and systematics.
Major:
BiologyPrograms
of specialization:
Medical Professions
Laboratory Technology
Allied Health Professions
Teaching Credential
Botany
and Plant Sciences
One of the oldest and largest departments on campus, the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences is unique in its integration of basic and applied plant sciences. It has particular strengths in plant cell biology, plant responses to environmental stresses, plant ecology, genetics, genomics, and evolution, as well as strong programs focusing on subtropical crop plants.
Major:
Plant BiologyMinor:
Plant Biology
Cell
Biology and Neuroscience
The Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience takes multidisciplinary approaches to understanding basic cellular processes in tissues, including the nervous system, as well as more integrative levels of analysis, including behavior. Some of the areas of study include mechanisms of toxicity, membrane transport, reproductive biology and fertilization, brainstem and spinal cord control of locomotion, and many others.
Majors:
NeuroscienceCellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology
Minor:
Neuroscience
Chemistry
Chemistry, the study of matter and its changes, is typically divided into analytical, environmental, inorganic, materials, organic, and physical. The Department of Chemistry participates in a number of interdisciplinary institutes and research groups, such as the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering and the Center for S&P Block Chemistry.
Major:
ChemistryOptions:
ChemistryChemical Physics
Environmental Chemistry
Minor:
Chemistry
Earth
Sciences
The Department of Earth Sciences focuses on Earth’s dynamic nature and history, investigating geological processes operating at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. and our research interests span many disciplines within the Earth sciences. Two new areas of graduate study are global climate and environmental change and earthquake processes and geophysics.
Majors:
GeologyGeophysics
Geoscience Education
Minor
options:
Geology
Global Climate Change
Entomology
The Department of Entomology at UCR, ranked among the top two in the nation, studies insects at the molecular, cellular, organismal, and population levels. Current research specializations include: arthropod vectors of plant pathogens, biological control, insect behavior, chemical ecology, ecology, morphology, pathology, pest management, physiology, insect-plant interactions, systematics, toxicology, insecticide resistance, medical/veterinary entomology, molecular entomology, neuroscience, and urban entomology.
Major:
Entomology
Minor:
Entomology
Environmental
Sciences
Today the world is aware as never before of the importance of preserving environmental quality. To practice environmental science requires a basic understanding of the physical, biological, and social sciences, as well as their application to environmental processes and issues. Department of Environmental Sciences faculty also participate in graduate programs in environmental toxicology, microbiology, chemical and environmental engineering, and economics.
Major:
Environmental Sciences
Options:
Environmental ToxicologyNatural Sciences
Social Sciences
Minor:
Environmental Sciences
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of the relationship between objects in the universe expressed numerically, and as such is the language of science. The Department of Mathematics has special research interests in algebra, analysis, geometry, topology, mathematical physics, and combinatorics.
Major:
Mathematics
Options:
Computational Math
Pure Math
Applied Math
Biology
Chemistry
Economics
Environmental Sciences
Physics
Statistics
Mathematics for Secondary School Teachers
Minor:
Math
Nematology
The Phylum Nematoda includes the most abundant and diverse multi-cellular organisms on Earth. A small fraction of nematode species are parasites of humans, livestock, or agricultural crops. Certain nematodes are helpful, including some that are used to manage harmful insects. The Department of Nematology’s research on nematodes benefits humanity and enhances our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity.
Major:
No undergraduate major
Physics
and Astronomy
The Department of Physics and Astronomy seeks greater understanding of the origin and structure of the universe, and the basic interactions which govern it. It also seeks atomic and molecular scale understanding of condensed and biological material systems and to provide the nucleus of interaction between materials and biological engineering and science researchers at UCR.
Major:
Physics
Tracks:
Standard Physics
Applied Physics and Engineering
Biophysics
Physics Education
Minor:
Physics
Plant
Pathology and Microbiology
Plant pathology is a multidisciplinary field, and the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology employs genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, and chemistry in its approaches to disease control. Research subjects range from gene identification, function, and manipulation to proteomics and biochemistry, and programs can include both laboratory and substantial field components.
Major:
Microbiology
Statistics
Defined as the science of learning from data, statistics has become central to virtually all scientific experimentation. The Department of Statistics is renowned for its emphases in statistical computing and quantitative management, and its Statistical Consulting Collaboratory, which provides faculty and students a rich environment for collaboration in research and instruction, emphasizing statistical/quantitative approaches.
Major:
Statistics
Options:
Statistics
Statistical Computing
Quantitative Management
Minor:
Applied Statistics