"North Georgia College and State University is a great institution for research and provides the opportunities to make the student successful." Bobby Brown It was my junior year in which I was first introduced to Bioinformatics. I was walking to class in Newton Oaks when I saw a flayer for a new class being offered, Bioinformatics (BIOL 4860).  I was a little timid about taking a 4,000 level Biology class as a computer science major until I looked further into the class description. It described a class in which chemistry, biology, mathematics, and computer science students all worked together and brought knowledge to the group from his or her own discipline to successfully complete the course applications. This was very exciting. We computer scientists could use our programming knowledge to write Perl scripts to help our biology classmates research and compare nucleotide and amino acid sequences. When the class started, it exceeded my expectations. It was taught by several instructors who each provided background and operational knowledge on the topics. We were paired with students not of our major and assigned lab projects. We were also assigned individual research projects to be presented in front of the class. My research covered algorithmic analyses of DNA nucleotide sequences. My presentation went well and I was encouraged to continue my work and submit a paper to a conference. I did just that. Once my project was ready, I, along with two faculty members submitted a poster abstract to the International Symposium on Bioinformatics Research and Applications the ISBRA being held at Georgia State University. The poster was accepted and I am preparing to present at the conference being held May 6th - 9th, 2008. I am extremely grateful for the encouragements from my professors and the resources and support from NGCSU for making this possible. I would like to encourage all students who have an interest to pursue undergraduate research in their field to do so. North Georgia College and State University is a great institution for such research and provides the opportunities to make them successful. I plan on continuing this research after the conference and to begin work in other areas of research. -Bobby Brown *** "....this speaks worlds about the kind of professors that teach at NGCSU...." states one of our graduates. My name is Kelly Gramling and I'm a recent Chemistry graduate from NGCSU. Over the past few months I've had the most difficult time finding a job. I have never had Dr. Corotto for a class or even met him, but through one of my friends he heard about my hard time and sent me a message about a job opening he knew of. In my opinion, this speaks worlds about the kind of professors that teach at the college, that a professor who doesn't even know me would go out of his way to help me in my job hunt. I just wanted to recognize him for his help. Thank you. Kelly

"Being a biology student at NGCSU has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life..." "Being a biology student at NGCSU has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life, while at the same time, one of the most rewarding. After transferring from a junior college, I can say one of the main differences I have noticed is how the biology faculty work together to assist students in every subject, regardless of whether or not they teach the subject or the student. Within my first full semester here I had a working relationship with nearly every member of the biology faculty, and only had four of them as professors. At other schools I have attended, it would be hard to find that kind of cooperation and cohesiveness in a group of professors. I have also been lucky enough to be able to assist in research projects during my time here. There are always opportunities for undergrads to gain research experience here. Rather it is through independent study or assisting a professor with their research, undergrads are welcome and encouraged to gain this valuable experience. It would be hard to find another school which offered the same research opportunities, motivating professors, and total faculty committed to the education of their students than at here at the NGCSU Biology Department. Though it has been one of the most challenging times of my life, I will miss it when I’m gone and will do it all over again in a heart beat."  Seth. *** "...when people say good things about NGCSU..." Just wanted to check in and say Hi. :) And to tell you... It turns out that my histology lab professor at UGA went to NGCSU! She said that she was encouraged throughout her studies and that she had a good chance to get into vet school.  NGCSU has a strong biology program and many go on to graduate school.  She compliments the former NGCSU students in her classes because they are well prepared.  She even wrote on my final exam, "NGC paid off!"  I agree!  Anyway, back to studying.  I just wanted to let you know that people are saying good things about NGCSU. Christine Morgan University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2011 *** "I came to this school because of the great biology program..." "My name is Jessica and I am from a small mountain town. I choose to come to this school because of the great biology program. I also wanted to go to a small school. The class sizes are small and the student teacher interaction is great. I developed a relationship with almost all of my teachers at this school. There is a large amount of females in the biology program. I like this because I had a friend in all my classes. The biology program is hard work but rewarding. By the way, you need to go on every field study that you can; they make great stories later on." Jessica