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Students must arrange a meeting of their temporary advisory committee early
during their first term to help develop a plan of study for the first year.
This meeting must occur no later than the end of the second month of the term,
i.e., October 31 for those starting in the fall. You must initiate this meeting,
contact the members of the committee, and find a time when they can get together.
A report detailing the discussed topics and recommendations must be written,
reviewed by you and your advisor, and placed in your file not later than one
week after the meeting (obtain the Student Advisory Committee form from the
EEB Graduate Program Secretary or go to Appendix
6).
You should meet with your temporary advisor regularly during the first year to ensure progress in both your course work
and your research. Whenever problems or questions arise during the year, you should feel free to consult with your
temporary advisor and the members of your advisory committee individually. You must meet with your temporary advisory
committee at least once more during the first year to discuss your progress, your research plan (if you are a Ph.D. student
or a Master s degree Plan A student) or project plan (if you are a Master s degree Plan B student), and any changes in your
proposed course work. Beginning students are also particularly encouraged to interact with other students and faculty
outside of their committee to discuss research/project plans.
After you are acquainted with the graduate faculty and with research opportunities in the program, but no later than the
end of your second semester, you should select a degree advisor. Your degree advisor may or may not be the same person as
your temporary advisor, and you should not feel uncomfortable about changing advisors during your first year. Your degree
advisor takes over the tasks of the temporary advisor. In addition, the degree advisor helps you shape your research
project (for a Master's Plan A or Ph.D. degree), helps you find funds to support your research, and is your primary source
of guidance during the remainder of your progress toward the degree. Most students arrange weekly meetings with their
degree advisor.
Together with your degree advisor, you should choose a new advisory committee, if changes from your temporary advisory
committee seem desirable. The advisory committee for Ph.D. students consists of four members, three representing the major
(EEB) and one representing the minor or supporting field. The advisory committee for M.S. students consists of three
members, two representing the major (EEB) and one representing the minor or supporting field. The member representing the
minor or supporting program needs to be from a budgetary unit other than EEB. Your advisor must represent the major and
must be a member of the EEB graduate faculty. All other members must hold graduate faculty status in a program at the
University of Minnesota or special permission must be sought from the Graduate School (ask the DGS how to do this). You
should first determine the willingness of each member to serve on your committee before you make any changes or additions
and discuss with them their advising philosophy and determine whether theirs matches yours.
You should meet with your committee to review your degree program and your research or project plans including funding,
no later than the beginning of your second year to ensure satisfactory progress on the preliminary written exam (for Ph.D.
students), or thesis (for Master s degree Plan A students), or projects (for Master s degree Plan B students). You can change members of
your advisory committee, including your degree advisor, at any time to reflect, for instance, significant changes in
research direction. After you submit your degree program, however, any changes must be communicated to the DGS who will contact the Graduate School.
Returning students must arrange a meeting of their advisory committee at least once a year. It is important that you
inform your advisory committee of your research or project plans in these meetings. Ph.D. students who have not passed
their preliminary oral examination and Master s students must submit a report on their progress written by their committee
no later than one week after each meeting (obtain the Student Advisory Committee form from the EEB Graduate Program
Secretary or go to Appendix 6).
Ph.D. students interested in an academic career are expected to have published scientific papers by the time they
graduate. Often, your first papers are written jointly with your degree advisor while you are a graduate student. To avoid
misunderstandings, you should discuss with your degree advisor what role you are expected to play in any studies that
might result in scientific publications, including authorship of scientific papers based on your thesis or dissertation
and any other research in which you participate. Another issue is ownership of, and access to, data that you produce
during your research. Many of our graduate students contribute to and/or use existing data sets. Clarify ownership of the
data you produce with your advisor. This is particularly important if your research is sponsored by extramural grants or
if you contribute data to an existing data set. If you use someone else’s data for your data, obtain prior written
permission for the intended use and make sure you keep the person whose data you use informed about the progress of your
research, in particular if there are any changes in research objectives.
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2. Prerequisites
Students entering the EEB program have diverse academic backgrounds, as admission to the department is based more on evidence of the originality and scholarship of applicants than on their specific coursework. However, competence in certain foundation disciplines -- chemistry, physics, mathematics, and biology -- is considered necessary for significant contributions to fields as complex as ecology, behavior, evolution, and organismal biology. Students should review their undergraduate training critically with their temporary advisory committee in the first meeting in the beginning of their first semester (bring copies of academic transcripts to the first advisory committee meeting), and they should plan to gain competence in any of the areas they are lacking.
Ordinarily, students become competent in foundation areas by taking courses either before entering the program or during the first year of graduate study. It is strongly recommended (though not required) that incoming graduate students have completed undergraduate-level course work in inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, general physics (to include at least knowledge of Newtonian mechanics, sound, light, thermal physics, and electricity), a year of calculus, courses that cover at least two of the areas of plant, animal, and microbial biology (beyond an introductory biology course), biochemistry, genetics, and physiology (microbial, plant, or animal). Before the beginning of the first term, the temporary advisor and the DGS will determine in which areas the student is lacking and devise a preliminary plan of action for the first semester to fill any gaps.
The final decision of which gaps a student needs to fill should be based on the student s research interest and is made by the advisory committee in consultation with the DGS. Gaps can be filled by taking the appropriate undergraduate level courses, or by doing independent reading of material supervised by an appropriate faculty member, or other ways deemed appropriate by the advisory committee. (It is not required by the program that the student fills all gaps.) The final plan of action must be put in place during the first advisory committee meeting. Students must complete any prerequisites needed for their research by the end of their first year. The final plan must be submitted to the DGS on the Student Advisory Committee form. Revisions to this plan must be agreed upon by the advisory committee of the student and submitted in writing to the DGS.
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3. Graduate Coursework
The EEB Graduate Faculty wishes to maximize time available for creative, independent research and for an individualized course program by minimizing course requirements for all graduate students. Together with their advisory committees, students should design their program of research, tutorials, and formal courses to meet their present and anticipated needs. The faculty expects competence beyond the typical undergraduate level in the following areas:
- Quantitative skills. The continuing development of quantitative methods of data analysis and of mathematical theory and modeling in ecology, evolution, and behavior necessitates a strong background in mathematics and statistics for all scientists in those fields. All students are expected to have competence in basic statistics, to include hypothesis testing, regression, and correlation. An advanced course in statistics relevant to a student s thesis is required for the Ph.D., such as STAT 5021 (for students with little statistical experience), STAT 5302 (for students who need regression tools for large observational data sets), or STAT 5303 (for students who need to learn about experimental design).
The School of Statistics maintains a webpage http://www.stat.umn.edu/Courses/RelatedCourses.html of courses with statistical content or related to statistics.
Familiarity with some mathematical modeling to be able to read more theoretical papers and the use of computers to be able to perform data analysis or simulations is expected of all students, though no formal courses are required.
- Field or laboratory experience[1]. Students entering in Fall 2002 or later need to acquire
experience in collecting and analyzing data for studies in ecology, evolution, or behavior. This requirement can
be fulfilled, for instance, by taking a field course at a field station, such as the Lake Itasca Forestry and Biological
Station or the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica, or by an independent field or laboratory research
experience of equivalent effort and duration. Students whose thesis research project has a significant field or laboratory
component automatically satisfy this requirement.
- History and philosophy of science. Ph.D. students should gain an appreciation of these areas through a course, seminar,
or independent study. Courses or seminars that can fulfill this requirement are, for instance, EEB 3361, Phil 3601W,
Phil 4105W, Phil 4607, HSci 3242, HSci 3244, HSci 3815, HSci 5211, HSci 5242, HSci 5244, or Rhet 8520 (The Rhetoric of
Biodiversity).
If you wish to take courses not listed here, obtain permission from the DGS. An appropriate course taken in a different
degree program (for instance, an undergraduate degree program) can be used to satisfy this requirement (obtain approval
from the DGS). If a course or seminar is audited to fulfill the requirement, a written statement of the instructor of the
course is required to testify that the student attended and participated in the course or seminar.
Instead of taking a course or a seminar, a student can design an independent study consisting of appropriate readings
guided by an EEB faculty member, a written report should be submitted to the supervising faculty member and the DGS in the form of
a review paper on a topic related to the readings. Books that are recommended include "Scientific Method for Ecological
Research" by David Ford or "Modeling Nature Episodes in the History of Population Ecology" by Sharon E.
Kingsland. If a student plans to do an independent study, the student should talk to the DGS and have the reading list
approved prior to undertaking the study.
- EEB courses. Ph.D. students, as preparation for their preliminary examinations,
are expected to acquire basic knowledge in ecology, evolution, behavior, and
organismal biology (see Appendix
1 for a list of current courses to satisfy this requirement). Students
who entered in Fall 1998 or later are required to take at least one course
in each of these areas with any one of them done at the advanced undergraduate
level. One of the four areas can be covered by a graduate seminar or reading
course of equivalent effort and duration. At most one of the four courses/seminars
can be substituted by a course taken prior to entering the EEB Graduate Program
(obtain approval from the DGS).
The Graduate School does differentiate between 4000 and 5000 level courses. 4000 level courses may be applied to a Graduate School degree under special circumstances and with approval of the student's major field. Consult your advisory committee for recommendations of specific courses that will best meet your needs in these areas. Courses that are not listed in Appendix 1 need to be approved by the DGS.
Exceptions to the requirements stated above may be permitted by the DGS in special cases. A petition should be submitted to the DGS, stating the reasons for the exception and approved by all members of the student's advisory committee.
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4. Foreign Language
Proficiency in a foreign language is not required of graduate students for
admission to the graduate program in EEB. However, students who expect to do
research in a country, where English is not the native language are strongly
advised and maybe required by their advisory committee to acquire proficiency
in the language of that country. Fellowships for learning a foreign language
are available (See: Institute for Global Studies).
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5. Teaching
As a minimum, Ph.D. students are required to teach the equivalent of two semesters
(at 1/2 time) during their course of study. Many students serve as a teaching
assistant in General Biology (commonly Biol 1001 or 1009) during their second
year. General Biology provides excellent training for Teaching Assistants. For
those who anticipate teaching at the college or university level, additional
teaching experience is recommended, and several courses in teaching methods
are available. For Ph.D. students who plan a career as a faculty in a college
or university, the Center for Teaching and Learning Services offers courses
on "Preparing Future Faculty" (PFF). These courses will assist you in developing
your teaching skills and inform you about the role of faculty in colleges and
universities. These courses are not required by the EEB program, but many students
have found them useful. For further information, visit the web
site.
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6. Research
Research experience at some time during the first year is expected of all graduate students working for the Plan A Master's or the Ph.D. degree. Students working for the Plan B Master's degree are encouraged but not required to participate in independent research.
Ph.D. students must begin their own research early in their program. It is strongly recommended to lay the preliminary groundwork during the first year and to initiate some research during the first summer after admission to the program (or, if feasible, during the summer before the first year in graduate school). Research plans usually begin to crystallize during the second year, and research must be well under way by the end of the second year.
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7. Ethics in Research
In response to the requirements of federal granting agencies, the Graduate School requires that all graduate students receive training in ethics. To meet this requirement, the program will schedule "ethics and aesthetics" (E&A) seminars in the EEB department seminar series, the Friday noon seminar series, and during E&A Cookie Hours, throughout the academic year. In addition to ethical matters of concern to all scientists, such as fraud in research, plagiarism, authorship, and ownership of data, the seminars may include practical and helpful topics for academic and professional success (the "aesthetic" topics) that have ethical implications. Additional designated seminars outside of the department can also be used to meet E&A requirements. See the DGS for details.
All graduate students are expected to attend the scheduled E&A seminars whenever possible. To meet the requirement, students need to attend a minimum number of hours of training in ethics (6 hours for a Master's and 10 hours for a Ph.D. degree). Attendance at the seminars will be taken, and the DGS must certify that a student has met the requirement before graduation. For students who have unavoidable scheduling conflicts that prevent attendance at sufficient E&A seminars to meet the minimum, alternative training may be arranged through the DGS.
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8. Annual Review of Graduate Students
Each year during Spring semester, the graduate faculty reviews the progress of each of its graduate students. The DGS
will solicit input and comments from both students and the students' advisors, summarize the progress of each student in the program during the meeting, and point out places where improvement is desirable, including the timely completion of requirements. Each student will be informed by the DGS in writing after the meeting about the discussion and the student's progress. If a student's progress is considered unsatisfactory by the faculty, the student will be given encouragement and opportunity to improve and be informed about potential consequences if progress continues to be unsatisfactory.
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9. Exit Interview
The DGS will conduct an exit interview with the student who defended the thesis successfully.
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[1] For students who entered before Fall 2002, requirement (2) reads: "Field experience. At least one field course at a field station is required of all students. Courses at the Lake Itasca Forestry and Biological Station offer training in field research and bring students into contact with graduate students from other universities as well as with visiting faculty from leading graduate programs in ecology and behavior. Field courses offered by the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica are also highly recommended. A student who has had extensive field experience may petition, with the recommendation of the student's advisory committee, for waiver of the field course requirement."
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