The purpose of this course is to prepare exploratory track students to achieve academic success at UMass. The curriculum will aim to orient students to the health science fields and the major options within, assist students with major exploration outside of the health sciences, create strategies for academic success, transition to campus life and learn how to effectively navigate and utilize campus resources.

The primary focus of this seminar will be on the generation of a thesis (or equivalent) capable of
satisfying the thesis requirement for Commonwealth Honors College students majoring in Biology.
In this seminar we will take a project-based approach to identifying and pursuing innovation
opportunities based on bio-based to materials, processes, structures, systems, and social and
environmental issues. Through the framework of bio-inspired innovation, students will develop
and pursue independent projects based upon their own interests. The range of topics will defined

Over the past year few years, a powerful social movement has emerged to affirm to the country and world that Black Lives Matter. Sparked by the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Stanford, Florida, and Zimmerman's acquittal as well as the police killings of other black men and women, including Michael Brown, Rekia Boyd, and Freddie Gray, this movement challenges police violence and other policing that makes black communities unsafe as well as social constructions of black people as inherently dangerous and criminal.