Graduate Program
We offer both M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs. The M.S. program has two tracks requiring 30-36 graduate credits: Masters with a thesis (including a proposal and oral defenses), or Masters without thesis. The Ph.D. requires 60 graduate credits, a research proposal with an oral defense, and a dissertation with an oral defense. Students may include courses offered elsewhere, both within the University, such as at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, and outside the University.
Students usually choose their major professor before entering graduate school, and later select an independent research topic that associates them closely with the graduate faculty. To choose a major professor, contact one or more of the following faculty before submitting your formal application: Dr. Baker, Browne, Chiba, Dallman, Gaines, Green, Herbert, Horvitz, Hurt, Janos, Lu, Prince, Sealey, Searcy, Skromne, Sternberg, Tokarz, Tosney, Uy, Waddington, Whitlock, Wikramanayake, A. Wilson.
Research
Research strengths of the program include ecology, behavior, conservation, evolutionary biology, tropical biology, and mathematical and theoretical biology, developmental biology and neuroscience. The department has recently expanded significantly in the areas of developmental biology and neuroscience.
The University
The University of Miami was founded in 1925 as a private, coeducational institution and now comprises twelve colleges and schools. The Coral Gables campus is a 260-acre tract containing 120 buildings and is located 15 minutes from both the University's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (on Virginia Key) and Miller School of Medicine (in the city of Miami). the University has an enrollment of 15,000 students, wtih approximately 5,200 graduate students. The department usually has about 50 graduate students.
Location
The Department of Biology is situated on the University’s main campus in Coral Gables, in a subtropical environment, 30 minutes from the Everglades and 15 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. Local cultural facilities include a performing arts center, art and science museums, three theaters that offer Broadway plays, and various smaller theaters. Local tourist and recreational attractions include professional football, basketball, baseball, and hockey teams; Jungle Island; Monkey Jungle; the SeaQuarium; the Miami-Dade Zoological Park; and various marinas, parks, and paths for running or biking. Areas for fishing and diving in Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys are within 10 to 90 minutes of the campus. Everglades National Park, where hiking, canoeing, and camping can be enjoyed, is less than an hour from campus. Off-campus housing is available from approximately $650 per month upward. The cost of living in Miami is equivalent to that of other metropolitan areas.
Graduate Funding
Students admitted to the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biology are guaranteed ten semesters of support either as a teaching assistant or a research assistant. Both provide a $22,000 nine-month stipend and an 18-credit tuition waiver. Three types of fellowships are available to applicants on a competitive basis and offer an 18-credit tuition waiver: a University Fellowship (up to two years of funding at $25,000 per year); a Maytag Fellowship (up to three years of funding at $20,000 per year); and The Lisa D. Anness Graduate Fellowship. The Lisa D. Anness Graduate Fellowship supports graduate students in Biology who will be co-mentored by a member of the faculty of the University of Miami and a member of the research staff of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (for an article on Lisa Anness, click here). The Anness Fellowship awards a stipend of up to $20,000 per year, plus funds for research and travel. Once students are enrolled, they are eligible to apply in-house research support from a variety of departmental and university sources.
Opportunity to Take Outside Courses
The Department will fund students to take a field or training course outside the University, for instance at the Organization for Tropical Studeis(OTS), the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, or Cold Spring Harbour. The Department of Biology is a charter member of OTS and several departmental faculty participate in teaching OTS field courses. Biology also maintains ties with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Graduate-selected Visiting Professor
Each year, graduate students select a Distinguished Visiting Professor to visit and teach for two weeks. This program has brought to the department such outstanding scientists as Drs. F. Bazzaz, J. Brockman, D. Brooks, J. Brown, H. Caswell, E. L. Charnov, N. Davies, L. Ehrman, A. M. Elison, J. S. Farris, D. J. Futuyma, J. W.Gibbons, L. E. Gilbert, R. K. Koehn, J. R. Krebs, M. F. Mickevich, N. Nadkarni, P. Narins, G. Nelson, G. Northcutt, R. Pulliam, P. J. Regal, D. Reznick, R. E. Ricklefs, D. E. Rosen, M. Rosenzwieg, J. Roughgarden, M. J. Ryan, D. Simberloff, J. Travis, E. O. Willis, and L. Wolf. Professor Douglas Schemske of Michigan State University will visit our department February 28 - March 11, 2011.
Application
Application materials needed are described here and the application itself is available online. These materials also may be obtained by writting to "The Director of Graduate Studies" at the department address below. All completed application forms, including letters of application, must be mailed directly to the director of graduate studies by December 1. Before submitting the formal application, students must contact one or more members of the graduate faculty, stating their career goals and research interests, and arranging faculty sponsorship. In the application, recommendations from at least three academic referees should address the student’s motivation, research potential, and ability to conceptualize and deal quantitatively with biological problems. Evidence of research capability such as reprints of publications should be included. Your score on the GRE General Test is essential. International students must submit a TOEFL score of at least 550 (paper-based), at least 212 (computer-based), or at least 59 (excluding speaking, internet-based). Following tentative acceptance of a student and his or her research topic by one or more faculty sponsors, the complete file is evaluated by the Graduate Admissions and Advisory Committee which notifies the Graduate School or International Admissions regarding admission. Decisions on admission and awards are announced by April 15th.
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