Facilities

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.

C.R. Hanes Herbarium

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

Finch Greenhouse

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

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.