University of Wisconsin–Madison

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The inside of one of the Department of Biology's Greenhouses is illuminated by bright sunlight, showing various plants with large green leaves spotted with an orange oblong shaped fruit.

Welcome to the Department of Biology

From the Chair

July 1, 2026, marks the first day of the Department of Biology in the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Bringing together botany and integrative biology (formerly zoology), two departments that have been around since the earliest years of our university, is an enormous feat and it also presents several exciting opportunities.

The Department of Biology joins botany and integrative biology’s 11 academic programs, three living and preserved natural history collections and adds an exciting new botanical sciences research hub, the Center for Botany.

Read more

Faculty Q&A: Kristina Young researches how human land use reshapes ecosystems

Faculty

As an ecologist, Young studies sustainable land management and methods to halt and reverse land degradation, especially in deserts.

Department of Biology FAQs

Department News

Answers to frequently asked questions about the new Department of Biology.

Hands-on in Hawaii

learning

Botany students travel to Hawaii with Professor Chris Muir to study plant diversity in the global biodiversity hotspot.

A young adult in a red jacket and pink baseball cap smiles at the fist full of fluffy seeds she holds up to be caught in and carried by the wind. They stand in a field of short green-brown grass that is patched with burn marks from a previous prescribed burn.

Alumni and Friends Newsletter

Are you an alumnus or friend of the former Botany or Integrative Biology Departments? Botany and Integrative Biology have now combined their talents as the Department of Biology.

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News

  • Faculty Q&A: Kristina Young

    Faculty Q&A: Kristina Young

    Kristina Young joined the UW–Madison faculty in January 2026 as an assistant professor of climate change ecology. As an ecologist, she studies how human land use reshapes ecosystems, with an eye toward…

  • Researchers recognized by Ecological Society of America

    Researchers recognized by Ecological Society of America

    A paper by Nathan Kiel (PhD iBio ’24), undergraduate student Eileen Mavencamp (’23), and Professor Monica Turner has been awarded the W.S. Cooper Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Fields of Geobotany…

  • Studying vesicles could reveal insight on the origins of life

    Studying vesicles could reveal insight on the origins of life

    PhD candidate Tymofii Sokolskyi and professor David Baum published a new paper that investigates pre-biotic chemical reactions in vesicles to better understand the origins of life. Read more.

  • Biology graduate students receive 2026 Arboretum Research Fellowships

    Biology graduate students receive 2026 Arboretum Research Fellowships

    Department of Biology graduate students Hannah Ashe, Jillian Neece and Shaneya Miriyagalla have received Arboretum Research Fellowships. These graduate fellowships support early career scientists doing work that aligns with the Arboretum’s mission…

  • Department of Biology FAQs

    Department of Biology FAQs

    Answers to frequently asked questions about the new Department of Biology. Read more.

In the News