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University of Wyoming

Graduate Programs

Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Botany

The Department of Botany offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Applicants are strongly encouraged to write or call an individual faculty member in their field of interest before their application. The areas of specialization of the faculty are:

  • Cell Biology and Physiology (Herbert)
  • Genetics and Evolution (Buerkle, Ward, Weinig)
  • Ecology (Buerkle, Ewers, Jackson, Ogle, Pendall, Reiners, Tinker, Ward, Weinig, Williams)
  • Mycology (Miller)
  • Systematics (Brown, Hartman, Ward)

Degree Requirements

Master of Science. Requirements for the M.S. degree includes a minimum of 26 semester hours of graduate credit course work (4000 and 5000 level courses) plus a minimum of 4 hours of thesis research credits.

Doctor of Philosophy. In addition to the minimum requirements set forth by the Graduate School, the Department of Botany requires that a student demonstrate skills in two peripheral areas. These may include such areas as foreign languages, statistics, or computer science. Other skill areas may be considered appropriate with concurrence of the Faculty Advisor and the student's committee. Additional skill requirements may be necessary. Students without an M.S. degree may be admitted into the Ph.D. program after approval by their graduate committee and a semester of residency.

To insure breadth of background, and regardless of field of specialization, all candidates will be held responsible for basic information in the following areas:

  • Genetics,
  • Physiology, Genetics and Cell Biology,
  • Morphology,
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Depending on individual programmatic needs, Chemistry (including organic and elementary biochemistry), Physics, Calculus and Statistics may be required.

Every Ph.D. student must serve as a teaching assistant for at least one semester, regardless of his or her source of funding. Also, every graduate student is expected to attend the Departmental Seminars, in which distinguished visitors from off campus, other UW faculty, Botany faculty, and Botany graduate students speak on their research. These seminars are usually scheduled at 3:30 PM on Fridays during the academic year.

Financial Assistance

Teaching and Research Assistantships are available to qualified college graduates. Individual faculty should be contacted for possible support on grant funds. Summer support is often available as well. The deadline to apply for Teaching Assistantships is February 1st.

How to Apply

The Department of Botany normally requires agreement for mentorship by a member of the Faculty with whom you are interested in working. Potential applicants are encouraged to initiate correspondence with individual faculty members prior to application.  Review of applications begin February 1st.

The Department of Botany no longer requires the Biology GRE exam. The core GRE exams (verbal, quantitative, and analytical) are required for admission to the Graduate School.

If you decide to apply for admission you can apply on-line through the Graduate School or submit application materials directly to the Department of Botany and save the admissions fee and associated fees until formally accepted. If you choose to apply directly to the Department of Botany, unofficial documents are acceptable and no documents should be sent to the Graduate School. However, once accepted, official documents and fees will be required by the Graduate School. Application forms can be downloaded from the Graduate School.

 

Please direct inquiries about the program to our current Graduate Program Officer:
Dr. Alex Buerkle by E-mail or at the following address:
Department of Botany, 3165
University of Wyoming
1000 E. University Avenue
Laramie WY 82071

All graduate students should review the Botany Graduate Student Handbook to learn of the graduate program philosophy and of the details for completing degree programs.