The Natural Sciences Department: Science Home

Natural Sciences Department

Adjunct Faculty: Julie Guyette, Claire Handy, Lisa Legere, Caroline Maloney, Helen Mansur, Rebecca Oliver, Michael Piecuch, Ericka Poppell, Inga Potter, Paul Sokoloff, Karen Veit

The term "science" refers to a broad range of disciplines that seek to understand everything in our world. Thus, science seeks to understand everything from subatomic particles to atoms, from elements to macromolecules, from individual cells to complex organisms, from ecosystems to planets, and from our solar system to the universe.

At YCCC, the Natural Sciences Department offers a wide variety of life science courses such as Biology, Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, and Marine Biology, as well as Chemistry and Environmental Science.  We continue to develop new courses to round out the offerings.  Please note that at YCCC, some of the sciences are housed in separate departments: Math, Statistics, and Physics courses are taught in the Math & Physics department;  Psychology and Sociology are in the Social Sciences department; Behavioral Health Studies is in its own department with Gerontology.

All of our natural science courses emphasize the diversity of human inquiry, the elegance of the scientific method, the value of questions, the challenge of hypotheses, the power of experimental design, the importance of critical thinking, and the promise of conclusions.  Science is a process that generates knowledge that must stand up to continued scrutiny and analysis.  Thinking like a scientist requires dedication, creativity, hard work, and alternating rounds of confidence and humility.  Most importantly, science requires a love of learning. We study the sciences not simply as a stepping stone to a degree or a career, but to widen our knowledge, to deepen our intellect, to foster our curiosity, to enhance our life skills, and to appreciate the incredible complexity of the world in which we live.

We invite you to explore the science offerings at YCCC and beyond.