Facilities

Student in lab

The Department of Biological Sciences at Western Michigan University has a variety of facilities that students, faculty and staff can use.

Teaching labs

Teaching labs for student instruction contain up-to-date equipment for the study of plants, animals and microorganisms.

Research labs

The department also has state-of-the-art research laboratories for faculty and graduate students. The faculty and graduate students have access to scanning and transmission electron microscopes, scintillation counters, ultracentrifuges and spectrophotometers.

The Biology Imaging Center:

  • Includes a basic research program.
  • Offers educational programs for undergraduate and graduate students.
  • Provides comprehensive scientific and technical expertise for both University-wide and external grants and contracts.

C.R. Hanes Herbarium

This facility includes 33,000 preserved plant specimens with an emphasis on those from Kalamazoo County.

Pogonia verticillata

Finch Greenhouse

  • Collection of living plants not native to the Michigan area.
  • Research space.

Greenhouse plants

Other Collections

The Department also has insect, mammal and bird collections.

Outside locations

The WMU campus contains a variety of cultivated and native plant species, while the Kleinstuck Nature Preserve, Asylum Lake and a reconstructed oak savannah are located on nearby University properties. Laboratory classes frequently take field trips to the many lakes, streams, ponds, forests, wetlands and prairies of Kalamazoo and adjacent counties.