
Welcome to FWCB and UHP Honors Program Information!
Wondering what it means to be an Honors student in FWCB? We’ve put together this guide to help students (like you!) find their way through the program and get the most out of their Honors experience. Here you will find an overview of the program, Honors courses and experiences that may interest FWCB students, an overview of the thesis process, and helpful advice from past students.
What are the benefits of being in Honors?
There are many advantages to being in the Honors program that can add extra meaning to your college experience. Those include:
- Smaller class sizes
- Extra cool classes like Honors Seminars that only Honors students can take
- Taking graduate-level courses as Honors experiences
- Tutoring services specifically for Honors students
- Honors-specific advising
- Events exclusive to Honors students
- The opportunity to explore research and writing through a topic you find interesting during the thesis writing process
- And of course, it looks good on your resume, and when applying to graduate school
We hope this guide will help you navigate the Honors program and get the most out of your time here at the UMN, both in Honors and FWCB. If you have any questions about UHP or FWCB, here are some faculty members who can help answer your questions:
- Todd Arnold: Honors Faculty Representative: [email protected]
- Your Advisor: Honors Advising | honors (umn.edu)
FWCB UHP Honors Program Information
FWCB and UHP Honors Program Overview
UHP Honors Requirements

- 1 First Year Experience
- 3 Honors Courses
- 5 Honors Experiences
- Thesis
Honors Courses Information

FWCB Honors Courses
Honors courses fall into these main categories: HSEM courses, Honors departmental courses, 5000+ level graduate courses, or additions made to non-honors courses to create enhanced engagement. For a course to be counted as honors, it must be at least two credits, graded A-F, and you must receive a grade of C- or higher. You will be required to complete at least three Honors courses, and one must be an HSEM course. CFANS and FWCB lack departmental Honors courses, posing a challenge. Thus, we have put together a list of Honors courses from other units that may be of interest to FWCB students, as well as 5000-level courses, which have the potential to fit into pre-existing FWCB course requirements. To qualify as Honors, a 5000-level class must be offered primarily to graduate students, and must be approved by the Honors program (as detailed below). Here is a list of 5000 level courses that FWCB students may find of interest:
5000-level Courses*: Fall Semester
- EEB 5407 Ecology
- EEB 5409 Evolution
- EEB 5412 Introduction to Animal Behavior
- EEB 5601 Limnology
- EEB 5609 Ecosystem Ecology
- ENT 5021 Insect Biodiversity and Evolution
- ESPM 5014 Tribal and Indigenous Natural Resource Management
- ESPM 5015 Invasive Plants and Animals Ecology and Management
- ESPM 5071 Ecological Restoration
- ESPM 5108 Ecology of Managed Systems
- ESPM 5555 Wetland Soils
- FW 5136 Ichthyology
- FW 5603W Habitats and Regulation of Wildlife
- FNRM 5104 Forest Ecology
5000-level Courses*: Spring Semester
- EEB 5409 Evolution
- ESPM 5111 Hydrology and Water Quality Field Methods
- ESPM 5202 Environmental Conflict Management, Leadership, and Planning
- ESPM 5241 Natural Resource and Environmental Policy
- ESPM 5261 Economics and Natural Resources Management
- ESPM 5575 Wetlands
- FW 5051 Analysis of Populations
- FNRM 5203 Forest Fire and Disturbance Ecology
*5000-level courses will require approval to be counted as an Honors course. See details in the Honors Reporting Center. https://honors.umn.edu/current-students/honors-advising/honors-reporting-center
Learn more about different Honors courses and what counts towards your Honors requirements on the UHP website. https://honors.umn.edu/
FWCB UHP Honors Experience
FWCB UHP Honors Experiences
Honors experiences can take many different forms, allowing each student flexibility to follow what interests and inspires them.
Here are some examples of what past Honors FWCB students have completed as Honors experiences:
- Directed Research or Directed Study
- UROPs
- Internships (on campus and off)
- Natural Resources Job Board at Texas A&M
- Minnesota state jobs
- USA Jobs, the federal government’s official employment site
- Ecology jobs
- Lab jobs on campus
- Working with the Bell Museum
- DNR Internships (see Minnesota state jobs)
- Americorp Internships
- Volunteer work at Wildlife Rehab Center
- Volunteer work at MN Zoo or Como Zoo
- Publish your work in MURAJ, the Minnesota Undergraduate Research and Artistic Journal
Honors Thesis

The thesis is the capstone of your work in FWCB and Honors. Writing a thesis allows you to explore a research topic of your choosing. You will research, write, and present your own unique work, and have the opportunity to work alongside faculty and other professionals in the development of your thesis.
Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Biology | honors (umn.edu)
Where should I start?
Writing your thesis is a big undertaking, it can be a daunting process in unfamiliar territory. Knowing when and where to begin can help make the task seem more manageable. One key is starting early. It is common to begin the process in junior year, but you could start earlier as well.
The sooner you begin the process, the more time you will have to explore your research and craft a well-developed final product. Beginning earlier may also help lighten your load as you wrap up your thesis senior year. All this is to say, find the timeline that will work best with your schedule and goals – this looks different for everyone.
The CFANS thesis course (CFAN3091V), is meant to be taken in the fall of your junior year. This course will begin to introduce you to the research proposal and thesis writing process. During your junior year (or sooner!), begin reaching out to faculty members to find a potential thesis advisor and your committee members. Pay attention to faculty members who are doing research in your area of interest, and see if there are ways to get involved. Pre-existing research can be a great path for beginning your research for your thesis.
Determining what you are interested in writing about can be a big hurdle as well. There are so many interesting topics within FWCB that it can be challenging to narrow everything down to make a decision. Ultimately, what you write your thesis about does not need to be what you spend the rest of your career working on, but it can be a helpful stepping stone, so choosing something that you are passionate about is important.
Spending your first couple of years exploring internships and research opportunities can be extremely rewarding and important to determine where your interests lie. Another way to find topics of interest is to read literature and become familiar with research in the field. This can help you see what options are out there and help you begin your research process.
Throughout your classes and other experiences within FWCB, you will begin to meet a lot of professionals, especially faculty within the department. Pay attention to the types of research they are doing, and ask questions. It is also possible to get into your research through a study abroad program or off-campus job or internship. The FWCB Honors Faculty Representative can be helpful in guiding your search.
Advice from Past Honors Students

What advice would you offer incoming FWCB Honors students?
Start talking to faculty members early about their research to find someone who is doing research that you're interested in! The earlier you start making these connections, the easier it is to reach out to them later about potentially being your advisor for the honors thesis process.
I would advise trying to reach out to faculty you might be interested in working with for research, and not being scared to approach them! Also, know that you can count applicable research and work experience as honors experiences!
Talk to your advisor(s) early and often to get your questions answered, and keep a close eye on your APAS to make sure you're finishing all of your honors requirements on time! It was really easy for me to focus too much on just finishing the requirements for my FWCB degree, and I often forgot to check to make sure I was on track to finish my honors requirements as well, and now I'm having to play catch-up during my last semester to make sure that I finish everything that I need to.
What advice would you offer FWCB Honors students specifically related to the thesis process?
"Again, get started early! Make connections and do research with professors early. Make a timeline for yourself and really try to stick to deadlines. Ask for help even when you're scared to, that's what your advisors are there for!
Start talking to faculty members early about their research to find someone who is doing research that you're interested in! The earlier you start making these connections, the easier it is to reach out to them later about potentially being your advisor for the honors thesis process."
How did you choose your thesis topic?
"I chose to get involved with research very early on—the fall of my freshman year. As such, I had two years of trial-and-error playing around with different projects and questions before settling on a thesis topic.
At the end of my sophomore year, I drafted my project proposal—a baseline survey of soil macroinvertebrate communities in Kenya—based on my previous work in Dr. Craig Packer’s Lion Lab and based on topics introduced to me in my coursework (i.e., earthworms as invasive species). My advice would be to get involved with research early, which will give you plenty of time to identify the questions that interest you and to start the process of designing a project that answers those questions.
I chose a topic that was interesting to me and ran with it! The topic also was somewhat topical in the FWCB realm, and had a lot of current literature on it but still had knowledge gaps that I could address. I think identifying gaps in knowledge within the larger topic was a helpful way to narrow down my focus."
What experiences during your first three years shaped your thesis process?
"I had extensive research experience which was absolutely invaluable in selecting my thesis topic. I’d worked in Dr. Craig Packer’s lab and Dr. Forest Isbell’s lab. I’d also worked with pollinator communities through the Argonne National Laboratory as an Ecolab Scholar. Any field experiences you can get your hands on will be useful in identifying what does (or does not) interest you with respect to research.
Writing intensive classes within the major were helpful in getting comfortable writing and reading scientific work. I specifically remember developing my writing skills in Animal Behavior (EEB3412W) and Ecology (EEB340W) which both had lengthy and intensive lab reports (at the time annoying, now very helpful) as part of the course. I'm sure there are other ones but those stood out to me as I looked back. I also incorporated readings from some of my classes into my thesis. Save assigned/supplemental reading that professors give you if you think they are interesting and/or applicable to your thesis!
Trying lots of field work and research jobs in my first three years helped me to solidify myself in the banding community and allowed me to make enough strong relationships to get data for my thesis. I did a research apprenticeship program at the U my freshman year with swans, and although I didn't use any of that data for my thesis, that process was similar but to a smaller scale of creating a poster at the end and presenting my work so that was a good way to stretch those researching and writing muscles before my thesis."
How did you decide who to have on your committee?
"I did some searching on faculty pages and read bios of researchers to see if my interests aligned and asked my professors if they knew anybody who was working on my topic to find an advisor. Unfortunately, the people that were working on my topic did not meet the UHP requirements for thesis advisors so I struggled a bit to select people to work with. But I encourage people to reach out to faculty- in my experience, people are not as scary as they seem and are almost always receptive and kind :) even if it is just to chat about common interests and build rapport! Researchers love to nerd out about their work and talk with someone who is also interested in it."
What was the most challenging part of the thesis process?
"The writing! I was writing my thesis as a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. On top of a full course load, two jobs, and clubs, it’s really important to make time to start on your thesis and make headway on writing. If your thesis will require extensive computational analysis, make sure to give yourself time to familiarize yourself with the software you will be using.
I managed my time so well that I was able to submit my thesis in March of my senior year, which made the last few months of school far less stressful than they would have been if I ended up getting super close to the thesis submission deadline.
I struggled with managing timing and meeting requirements because the information provided by UHP is often vague and unclear. You have to be your own advocate and usually are the one communicating deadlines, requirements, and logistics to your advisor/committee. This gets tricky when you don't know what those are yourself. Luckily because everything is so vague there is more wiggle room than you think but it is still stressful at times not having a clear path.
The data analysis was the hardest part for me. I spent months trying to do it and Todd (one of my readers that was helping me with the data analysis) was on sabbatical so he was hard to meet with in-person. Eventually, my main advisor helped me reach out to other data analysis gurus and they helped me complete it. Sometimes pivoting is the best way to get what you need done."
What was the most rewarding part of writing your thesis?
"Having a completed project of this magnitude with my name on it! especially on a topic that I am passionate about. It was also a really rewarding process to sift through so much information and develop a coherent narrative from everything I learned.
The presentation was so rewarding. I presented to my main advisor's lab group which I wasn't a part of but they were all interested in birds. I invited my friends and my readers and I was so nervous but it went great and was a great way to showcase my work and knowledge."
Do you have any other advice to give to future FWCB Honors students writing their thesis?
"Allow flexibility in the process! Your thesis will be a work in progress for the majority of the time you work on it and aiming for perfection at every step will only limit you. Be open to new ideas and don't limit yourself by adhering to 'the original plan'. Start working on it as soon as you can to give yourself time to explore ideas and develop a rich understanding of your topic - especially if you are planning on collecting your own data.
Start early and make a detailed timeline for yourself with ample time and really try to stick to it. If you get stuck on a part of the timeline, don't give up. Your timeline can always be readjusted, but trying to move forward every day, even if you only work on it for 10 minutes a day is super helpful. Pretending like it's a school assignment that you have to get a certain amount done a week is a good way to keep yourself on track. Also meeting with your advisor and having them keep you accountable is also good."