Biological Sciences
Program and Application Information | |
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Department Head: | Dr. Wendy Reed |
Graduate Coordinator: | Dr. Katie Reindl |
Department Location: | 218 Stevens Hall |
Department Phone: | (701) 231-7087 |
Department Email: | ndsu.biological.sciences@ndsu.edu |
Department Web Site: | www.ndsu.edu/biology/ |
Application Deadline: | Applications must be submitted by January 15 for full consideration for GTA or GRA positions.* |
Degrees Offered: | M.S |
English Proficiency Requirements: | TOEFL ibT 79 IELTS 6.5 |
*Applicants will not be considered without a department faculty member who has agreed to serve as the major advisor. For e-mail addresses for faculty members and for additional information about our programs, please visit our web site at http://www.ndsu.edu/biology/ .
Program Description
The Department of Biological Sciences offers graduate study leading to Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Master of Science degrees are available in Biology and Environmental and Conservation Sciences.
Doctor of Philosophy degrees are available in Botany, Genomics, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Environmental and Conservation Sciences, STEM Education and Zoology. Advanced work may involve specialized training in the following areas: aquatic biology, behavior, biology education research, cell biology, comparative biochemistry and physiology, cancer biology, conservation biology, ecology, endocrinology, developmental biology, evolution, fisheries biology, molecular biology, plant biology, population biology, prairie pothole ecology, evolutionary ecology and wildlife biology.
Student research and academic programs are tailored to individual needs and interests. Interdisciplinary approaches to biological problems are encouraged.
Admission Requirements
The graduate programs in the Department of Biological Sciences are open to all qualified graduates of universities and colleges of recognized standing. To be admitted with full status to the program, the applicant must meet all Graduate School admission requirements.
Applications should be submitted directly to the Graduate School. For full consideration for GTA or GRA positions, applications must be submitted by January 15. Applicants will not be considered without a department faculty member who has agreed to serve as the major adviser. Correspondence with one or more departmental faculty members before and during the application process is essential. For email addresses for faculty members and for additional information about our programs, please visit our website at http://www.ndsu.edu/biology/.
Financial Assistance
Research assistantships and teaching assistantships are available. Applicants are considered on the basis of scholarship, potential to undertake advanced study and research, as well as financial need.
A student must first be accepted by the Graduate School before consideration for financial assistance. Assistantships include a waiver of tuition.
In addition to research and teaching assistantships, there are other types of financial support. A limited number of State Board of Higher Education Scholarships and other fellowships are available through the Graduate School. Outstanding scholarship and financial need are primary considerations for these fellowships. Scholarships in specific areas are also available through the Department of Biological Sciences. These are generally supplemental and do not include tuition waivers. Students are considered for these awards after enrollment, with primary considerations being scholastic performance and research at NDSU.
Research Facilities and Equipment
The Department of Biological Sciences occupies approximately 20,000 square feet of floor space in Stevens Hall for research. The NDSU Library has extensive holdings of journals, monographs, books, and other reference materials covering various fields in biology. The library offers full access to online catalogs and databases.
Faculty in the department have research programs ranging from molecular biology to ecosystem ecology and work with a wide variety of organisms across multiple levels of organization, from cellular mechanisms to ecosystem function. Modern equipment is available for conducting research in cell and molecular biology and field ecology and behavior. The department has access to a vascular plant herbarium with 240,000 specimens emphasizing Northern Great Plains flora, a lichen herbarium consisting of about 15,000 specimens with a worldwide representation of taxa, and a vertebrate collection with approximately 10,000 specimens.
The department offers access to a range of equipment and facilities necessary for laboratory research, including greenhouses, animal rooms, growth chambers, tissue culture facilities, ultracentrifuges, spectrophotometers, electrophoresis, light microscopes, gas chromatography, GC-mass spectrometry, and high performance liquid chromatography. Facilities are available for protein and DNA sequencing, oligonucleotide synthesis, interactive laser cytometry, scanning transmission and electron microscopy, and confocal microscopy.