Chemical Biology

138 Remsen Hall

Degrees Offered: PhD

The Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) graduate program provides students with training that enables them to challenge the traditional boundaries currently separating chemistry from biology. Upon completion of the program, CBI students receive a PhD in chemical biology.

Our curriculum, including writing an original research proposal, is designed to help students further develop their analytical skills and the ability to think independently. Peer support and learning are also integral to the educational experience.

Coursework ensures that students have a strong foundation in chemistry in addition to ample knowledge of the biological sciences. The breadth of faculty research and teaching interests enables students to explore many aspects of the Chemistry-Biology Interface.

Cellular, Molecular, Developmental Biology and Biophysics

Cellular, Molecular, Developmental Biology and Biophysics Website

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Degrees Offered: PhD

The Program in Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics (CMDB) cross-trains doctoral students in the areas of molecular biology, cellular biology, developmental biology, and biophysics.

The CMDB program includes faculty from Johns Hopkins University’s departments of biology, biophysics, and chemistry, as well as from the Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Embryology.

A program of study leading to the PhD degree is open to students who are candidates for, or who already have, the bachelor’s or master’s degree in the biological or physical sciences.

To be admitted, the applicant should have had either a thorough training in the fundamentals of biology and both organic chemistry and general physics, or a broad training in the physical sciences and mathematics. Special attention is given to the applicant’s quality of scholarship and his or her promise as an investigator.

Environmental Science and Studies

Environmental Science and Studies Website

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Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BS, BA

The Environmental Science and Studies (ENVS) program provides a supportive yet challenging academic home for students who are passionate about the environment and who want to make a positive difference in the world.

The interdisciplinary ENVS majors and minor introduce students to the Earth’s living and nonliving systems and how humans interact with and affect those systems. The ENVS curriculum is solution-focused, providing students with the tools they need to become the next generation of problem-solvers. Courses examine how the powerful tools of science and policy can be brought to bear on environmental problems and the challenge of developing a more sustainable and equitable society.

Writing Seminars

Writing Seminars Website

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Gilman 81

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, MFA

Johns Hopkins University was, in 1947, among the first major academic institutions in the United States to create a degree for writers.

The department of the Writing Seminars, distinguished by 60-plus years of teaching by prominent American writers, is characterized by the quality of its faculty, small classes, and a broad liberal arts curriculum as part of the major. More than 30 introductory writing classes are offered each semester, with an additional 20 reading seminars and writing workshops for majors and non-majors.

For the BA, students work primarily in fiction and poetry but may take courses in nonfiction prose, editorial writing, screenwriting, playwriting, and science writing. An array of internships and a visiting writers’ reading series offer wider opportunities.

For the two-year MFA, students concentrate in either fiction or poetry. The Writing Seminars’ success at all levels is confirmed by an extraordinary record of prizes for, and publications by, our alumni.

What can you do with your degree?

Write! With skills learned at The Writing Seminars, countless students have gone on to publish novels, short stories, poetry collections, and nonfiction articles and books. Our graduates also excel simultaneously in fields such as teaching, editing, arts administration, and a variety of other professions ranging from law to business to medicine.

Related Programs and Centers

Political Science

Political Science Website

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Mergenthaler 338

Students can: Major

Degrees Offered: BA, PhD

The Department of Political Science provides undergraduate and graduate training in American politics and law, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. It offers a rich and diverse understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of politics, including the processes through which policies, rules, institutions, and political cultures are established, contested, and changed.

The programs of the political science department are designed to help students attain a deeper understanding of politics in its various dimensions. The department encourages students to become analytically sophisticated, to study politics in global and comparative perspectives, and to appreciate how citizens can be responsibly assertive in the community.

A broad and diverse faculty offers a range of courses about politics and government at local, state, national, and international levels. The university's proximity to Washington, D.C., provides a wide variety of internship opportunities.

What can you do with your degree?

Political science majors pursue a diverse range of careers in law, public service, finance, policy research, media, international development, and academia.

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Mathematics

Mathematics Website

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Krieger 404

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA, PhD

The goal of every program of the Department of Mathematics is to provide the highest quality education in mathematics at all levels, including the most recent developments and discoveries in mathematical research.

Johns Hopkins has a long history of preeminence in mathematics research and education, dating back to its founding in 1886 by J.J. Sylvester. In fact, the oldest running mathematics journal in the Western Hemisphere, the American Journal of Mathematics, is directed and edited by the Department of Mathematics and is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Today, a vibrant scientific environment continues through the interaction of our faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting mathematicians. Our areas of expertise include analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic/complex/differential geometry, mathematical physics, number theory, and algebraic topology. Seminars take place weekly and address a range of topics, and lecture series and conferences bring in top experts from around the world. The department is also home to the Japan-U.S. Mathematics Institute, which sponsors visitors and seminars throughout the year.

Whether you are in our undergraduate BA program, our four-year bachelor’s/master’s program, our doctoral program, or our Future Scholars Program (for outstanding high school students), you will engage with internationally renowned department faculty, two of whom were recently awarded Simons Fellowships, and nine of whom are Fellows of the American Mathematical Society.

What can you do with your degree?

While our PhD graduates go on to conduct research at major institutions around the country, undergraduate math majors at Johns Hopkins finish with a degree that prepares them for PhD programs in mathematics, as well as a wide spectrum of career opportunities. Our graduates have worked in fields as diverse as business and management, education, operations research, data mining, and finance. Our undergraduate program, when supplemented by courses in other departments, also prepares students for graduate or professional programs in other fields, such as economics, physics, engineering, and medicine.

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Chemistry

Chemistry Website

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Remsen 138

Students can: Major

Degrees Offered: BS, PhD

Chemistry is an interdisciplinary subject with natural, robust ties to the other sciences and engineering that, in general, involves the study of matter and the changes it undergoes. Advances in chemistry will be required to meet global challenges of clean air, safe water, healthy food, dependable medicine, advanced materials, eco-friendly products, and sustainable energy.

Our understanding of the fundamental nature of the world is grounded in chemistry. Molecular transformations are central to the production of food, medicines, fuel, and a countless array of materials. Chemists seek to understand the fundamental nature of matter and the changes it undergoes on a molecular or atomic level. While this goal was once limited almost exclusively to chemists, there is an increased effort toward molecular-level characterization in most areas of science and technology. Chemistry has therefore emerged as the "central science."

The Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University has a long tradition of excellence that began with Ira Remsen, the discoverer of saccharin, dating back to the inception of the University in 1876. Today, Hopkins chemistry is made up of internationally recognized faculty involved in contemporary chemical science, including interdisciplinary areas that interface chemistry with the fields of biology, medicine, physics, materials, and environmental science. Chemistry faculty train students interested in pursuing Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees in the classroom and in the laboratory.

What can you do with your degree?

The central nature of chemistry affords its majors more flexibility in careers. Fields of employment include medicine, industry, education, business, law, health services, and much more.

Graduates of the chemistry department have gone on to assume positions of scientific leadership in private industry, as well as in some of the finest academic institutions in the world. The success of the department in attracting and training outstanding students can be measured by the distinguished careers of our recent graduates and postdoctoral fellows.

Related Programs and Centers

Chemistry-Biology Interface Program

English

English Website

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Gilman 14

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, PhD

The Department of English at Johns Hopkins is an intimate, highly selective department with a long history of innovative scholarship, research opportunities, and superior teaching.

The department’s distinction begins with its renowned faculty. Every professor teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, and they all teach primarily in small seminars, so undergraduates get the best of what a research university has to offer while getting the kind of personal attention ordinarily only possible at a small liberal arts college. Courses provide both the core of a liberal arts education and the basis for the advanced study of literature.

Faculty members’ specialties range from early modern to contemporary, with particular strengths in critical theory and interdisciplinary approaches to literature.

Courses provide the core of a liberal education in the humanities and, for those who intend to pursue careers in teaching and scholarship, the basis for advanced study of literature. These range from historical surveys of English and American literature and introductory courses in critical methods to advanced courses and seminars in particular periods, authors, genres, and literary questions.

What can you do with your degree?

Earning a degree in English at Johns Hopkins will enhance your appreciation of some of the world’s finest literature and help you develop a variety of skills. Through reading and writing about literature in classes led by distinguished scholars, you will learn to think critically and argue persuasively about complex issues, while also having the opportunity to pursue independent research. Many of our undergraduates go on to pursue graduate studies in English or in fields such as history, philosophy, psychology, and education. Others choose to pursue professional careers in medicine, government, law, business, publishing, and media.

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Biophysics

Biophysics Website

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Jenkins 110

Students can: Major

Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA, Masters, PhD

In the 21st century, new fields of scientific inquiry are emerging at a breathtaking pace. In the biological sciences, emphasis will be increasingly on quantitation and prediction of living systems—precisely the focus of biophysics. Biophysics is a discipline that sits at the interface between biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computation, and engineering. It is uniquely well suited for the study of biology in the post-genomic era. Besides its role in contributing fundamental understanding of the properties of molecules, cells, and complex biological systems, biophysics is also central to the development of novel medical technologies and to the bioengineering and biopharmaceutical industry.

Biophysics was first established as an independent discipline at Johns Hopkins. The Thomas C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics has a remarkable tradition of excellence in research and teaching and of developing leaders in the scientific community.

The undergraduate major in biophysics constitutes a rigorous program of study that will help students develop the broad set of skills in science, math, and computation necessary to compete in the interdisciplinary environment of modern science, medicine, and engineering. The biophysics major emphasizes independent thinking and critical reasoning, problem-solving skills, and it teaches students how to move with ease across disciplines.

What can you do with your degree?

Biophysics majors follow many different professional paths after leaving Hopkins. A very large number of biophysics majors are accepted each year to medical schools in the nation. Biophysics majors also enter highly ranked graduate programs in biophysics, cell biology, public health, physiology, computational, quantitative and systems biology, biomedical engineering, and neuroscience. Many of our graduates are active in biomedical research, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical R&D. Others pursue degrees in law or environmental sciences, or become involved in consulting, governmental regulatory agencies, science education, science journalism, and other fields.

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Biology

Biology Website

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Mudd 144

Students can: Major

Degrees Offered: BA, BS, MS, PhD

The Johns Hopkins Biology Department is home to 25 research laboratories investigating a wide range of biological problems, with the unifying goal of obtaining explanations or models in quantitative and molecular detail. As one of the first biology departments in the United States, it has a long history dating back to the inception of Johns Hopkins University in 1876.

Biology faculty train students and researchers pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, as well as postdoctorals and visiting scientists. In addition to the BA in biology, the department offers a BS in molecular and cellular biology, a five-year combined BA or BS/MS program, and a PhD program.

The department emphasizes molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, biochemistry, and biophysics. Department members use the Integrated Imaging Center, the BioNMR center, the X-ray crystallography facility, and many other university resources to pursue their research and teaching objectives.

The Department of Biology plays a prominent role in training and educating undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, and visiting scientists to prepare them for the next steps in their careers.

What can you do with your degree?

The requirements of the biology major satisfy all the requirements for admission to medical school.

In addition to medical school, graduates of the program are prepared for graduate school and a variety of professions.

Related Programs and Centers

The Program in Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics (CMDB)

Economics

Economics Website

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Wyman Park Building 544E

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, MA, PhD

The Department of Economics at Johns Hopkins University is one of the leading departments of economics in the U.S., with outstanding strength in its research faculty, graduate program, and undergraduate program.

The department offers a focused approach that sets it apart from other economics programs around the world. Faculty and graduate students engage in the exploration of five economic disciplines: applied microeconomics, economic theory, macroeconomics, econometrics, and finance.

Economics students at Johns Hopkins receive the kind of unique, intensive, and mutually respectful education that routinely places the department among the highest ranked economics programs in the United States.

The opportunity to learn directly from innovative thinkers draws students to the department. Faculty at the forefront of their fields incorporate the results of recent research into courses in microeconomics, econometrics, monetary economics, investments, managerial economics, mathematical economics, uncertainty, forecasting, and game theory.

The university’s proximity to Washington, D.C., draws to campus experts from institutions such as the Federal Reserve Bank and think tanks such as The Brookings Institution. The location also provides exceptional opportunities for internships and independent study. The Center for Financial Economics offers a rich array of courses in finance that are designed for students who have the mathematical and statistical background to pursue the field at a rigorous level.

What can you do with your degree?

Department of Economics alumni are leaders in their fields. Graduates are frequently appointed to esteemed academic institutions, think tanks, government research positions, and investment banks around the world.

Undergraduate students in economics gain critical thinking skills, enabling them to understand and analyze important trends in the field and pursue their own research. Many graduates go on to law school, medical school, or graduate school in economics, while others enter the workforce, usually in the fields of banking or finance, and still others are employed in the public sector.

Related Programs and Centers

Center for Financial Economics