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Milestones

Milestones for EEB Graduate Students

Advisor and Committee

Your faculty advisor is a primary consultant in planning and realizing an effective graduate program. The Director of Graduate Studies will assign a temporary advisor as soon as you arrive in Minnesota on the basis of shared mutual interests. You may work with this initial advisor throughout your graduate-student career, or switch to one who will better serve your developing interests. Every student should have a permanent advisor by the end of their first year. The advisor and two or more additional faculty will serve as your Advisory Committee. The additional committee members are chosen in consultation with the advisor and Director of Graduate Studies, to provide the expertise that will guide your intended studies. The Advisory Committee will assist in program planning and will review progress annually; its composition is easily changed to serve a student’s developing research interests.

Research

All doctoral students and Plan A Master’s students are expected to gain research experience at some time during the first year (or, if feasible, during the summer before the first year in graduate school). Preliminary groundwork for the thesis research must be initiated during the first year. Research plans usually begin to crystallize during the second year, and research must be well under way by the end of the second year. Students working for the Plan B Master's degree are encouraged but not required to participate in independent research during the first year.

Journal Club and Preliminary Written Examination

All EEB doctoral students participate in a weekly journal-club seminar during their first three semesters of Minnesota residence, reading and discussing current and classic literature recommended by the faculty, postdocs, and senior graduate students. The journal club addresses each core area of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior for a full semester. In the fourth semester, the journal club becomes a proposal club, in which second-year doctoral students write a grant proposal that will serve as their preliminary written examination.

Coursework

The normal course load for graduate students is 12-14 semester credits. Most graduate students take this full load in the first two years of their program, filling background gaps, extending their knowledge in important areas, and acquiring the technical expertise in statistics, experimentation, and other specialties required for their work. All graduate students file a Degree Program listing the coursework intended for their graduate degree by the end of their second semester and at least one semester before they take their preliminary oral exam. Doctoral students are required to acquire basic knowledge in ecology, evolution, behavior, and organismal biology through graduate level courses, to take a course in advanced statistics, and gain some field or laboratory experience. In addition, they are required to gain some appreciation of history or philosophy of science.

Teaching

All doctoral students are required to teach for at least two semesters (1/2-time).

Completing a Master's

Requirements for the Master's degree consist mostly of course work. They are flexible and determined in consultation with the advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. A final oral examination completes both Plan A (thesis) and Plan B (non-thesis) master’s programs. Students in the Plan A program propose their research to the EEB department in a pre-thesis seminar by the end of their first year, write a thesis, and present their thesis research to the EEB Department in a seminar prior to the final oral examination. Students in the Plan B program prepare one to three written reports prior to their final oral examination.

Ph.D. Candidacy

The preliminary oral examination is taken after a student has passed the preliminary written examination and has given a pre-thesis seminar, typically early in their third year. The candidate should prepare a brief curriculum vitae, including courses, employment, fellowships, publications, and other significant data for distribution to members of the committee at the time of the oral exam. Passage of the oral exam marks entry into the final phase of a student’s doctoral program, focused intensively on research.

Ph.D. Seminar and Final Defense

The final oral examination is held when the advisor and the committee consider the doctoral dissertation ready for defense. It begins with a seminar, presenting the candidate’s research to the EEB Department and Graduate Program. After this public talk and audience questions, the candidate and advisory committee meet privately for questions and a discussion of the research. Passage of this final oral examination, and submission of a dissertation meeting Graduate School requirements are the final steps to a doctorate.

Greenhouse space on top of the Ecology Building.