Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences

Students in the classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027 who have started taking science courses at the W.M. Keck Science Department (Keck) will complete their science majors at Keck.

Transfer students in the classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027 who have started taking science courses at their former institution will complete their science majors at Keck.

For students in the class of 2028, Integrated Sciences will become CMC’s signature science major offered in the Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences (KDIS), replacing other science majors (e.g., in physics, chemistry, biology) which will no longer be offered at CMC. As a member of The Claremont Colleges, CMC students wishing to major in a science field other than integrated sciences can request a major at Keck, Harvey Mudd College, or Pomona College. Acceptance into those majors is determined by those programs and is not guaranteed.

Students in the class of 2028 must fulfill the laboratory science General Education (GE) requirement by taking Codes of Life (SCI10L) at CMC no later than spring of their sophomore year. Students in the class of 2027 (including transfer students) who have not yet completed this GE may fulfill the science GE requirement either by taking SCI10L or a lab-based science course in the W.M. Keck Science (Keck) Department by the end of academic year 2024-25. Students in the classes of 2025 and 2026 (including transfer students) who have not yet completed this GE should plan on taking a lab-based science course at Keck in academic year 2024-25. For students in the classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027 only (including transfer students), college policy also permits this GE requirement to be fulfilled with any other lab-based science course at the Claremont Colleges. However, space in off-campus courses may be limited, so completing the science GE requirement at Keck is advisable. In extenuating circumstances, students in the classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027 only (including transfer students) may petition to complete the lab-based science GE requirement at another institution outside of Claremont. Students should email Prof. Ran Libeskind-Hadas (rhadas@cmc.edu), Founding Chair of KDIS.

Students in the class of 2028 who are science majors at KDIS must complete their science GE requirements by taking Codes of Life (SCI10L) at CMC no later than their sophomore year.

Students in the classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027 who are science majors at the W.M Keck Science (Keck) Department will complete their science GE requirement with a lab-based science course at Keck.

The Integrated Sciences major is organized around three grand challenges: human health, the brain, and our planet. It aims to provide students with skills and knowledge to engage in research, critically evaluate new results and emerging trends, and reason and communicate about the relationship of science and society. The program seeks to develop strong foundations in the natural science disciplines (biology, chemistry, and physics) combined with computational, data science, and experimental approaches. An Integrated Sciences major is especially appropriate for students interested in careers in the health professions, scientific research, entrepreneurship and innovation, consulting, and policy.

To best prepare our students for these challenges and develop skills and confidence in working across traditional disciplinary boundaries, the curriculum is based on a set of seven foundational courses, taken by all Integrated Sciences majors.   Each of our courses is framed by one or more contemporary issues. We use a just-in-time approach that teaches new material in response to addressing a current challenge. Students immediately apply their new knowledge to make discoveries in the laboratory using a combination of observational, experimental, and computational approaches.

The content of these seven foundational courses is equivalent to 1.5 courses in biology, 2 courses in chemistry, 2 courses in physics, and 1.5 courses in computing, machine learning, and data science. The pedagogical approach of this foundational curriculum, however, involves a deliberate and thoughtful interleaving of those areas so that their deep connections are amplified and so that students can bring multiple skillsets to addressing the multidisciplinary perspectives required to address current research questions. These courses are:

• SCI 10L: The Codes of Life. This course explores current issues in the life sciences using a combination of laboratory and computational methods. Students will learn foundational principles in the sciences as well as programming in Python. This course satisfies the laboratory science general education requirement. This course is accompanied by a weekly lab where students use experimental, observational, and computational methods. 
• SCI  30LA/B: Integrated Sciences 1. These two courses emphasize how the integration of core concepts from biology, chemistry, and physics, and the use of both experimental and computational methods, are necessary to explore themes of health, brain, and planet.  Each of these courses is accompanied by a weekly lab where students use experimental, observational, and computational methods.
• SCI  31LA/B: Integrated Sciences 2. These courses are the second in a two-semester sequence that emphasizes how the integration of core concepts from biology, chemistry, and physics, and the use of both experimental and computational methods, are necessary to explore themes of health, brain, and planet. Each of these courses is accompanied by a weekly lab where students use experimental, observational, and computational methods.
• SCI 40L: Fields, Waves, and Quanta. This course expands on the fundamental principles of physics and how they are integral to the themes of health, brain, and planet. Topics include static and moving charges, electromagnetism, wave phenomena, and a practical introduction to quantum mechanics and nuclear physics. The lab portion of this course focuses on experimental design, data collection, and statistical data analysis. 
• SCI 50L: Computing for Discovery. This course develops computing concepts and skills that are broadly applicable in the natural sciences and, in particular, to the themes of health, brain, and planet. Topics include acquisition and curation of data, data visualization and interpretation, machine learning concepts and their applications and limitations, and communication of results to diverse audiences. There will be a computational lab associated with this class.

Beyond the seven foundational courses, Integrated Sciences majors select four elective courses. Those elective courses may be in one of the three thematic areas of our program (health, brain, or planet), providing students with depth in a single chosen area. Alternatively, students may work with their advisor to select a cross-cutting set of courses that blends the thematic areas.

Core requirements must be taken in KDIS with one exception that in AY 24-25 only, students in the class of 2028 may request alternative core courses (excluding SCI10L) offered through the W.M. Keck Science Department with the approval by the KDIS advisor and department chair. Students may request alternative elective courses with approval by the KDIS advisor and department chair.