Biology, M.S.

The department offers both a 30-hour thesis-based and 30-hour coursework based non-thesis M.S. in Biology. Those students who expect to work beyond the M.S. degree and toward the Ph.D. degree are strongly encouraged to choose the thesis option.

The thesis-based M.S. program provides students with in-depth research training under the mentorship of a tenure-track faculty member, and students complete up to 6 credit hours of BIOL 6000  (M.S. thesis research) while in the program. Among others, research strengths in the department include animal physiology, ecology, evolution and systematic biology, microbiology, plant biology and biotechnology, and quantitative biology.

The basic program requirements follow those of the Graduate School, with the following additions. Students in the thesis-based program are required to take BIOL 6202  during their first fall semester after acceptance in the program. During their first year, teaching assistants are required to take a special topics course (BIOL 6301 ) that emphasizes development of teaching skills. Students in the non-thesis-based program do not complete a research project but instead focus solely on classroom-based coursework. These students are not required to take either BIOL 6000 , BIOL 6202  or BIOL 6301  (biological pedagogy). However, BIOL 6202  and BIOL 6301  (pedagogy) are required if a non-thesis student wishes to be considered for appointment as a Teaching Assistant in the department.