Doctor's degree Plant Biology - Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Doctor's degree Plant Biology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a Campus Ph.D Biology degree that prepares you for a Science career. The Doctoral Degree Program Admission Applicants to the Doctoral Degree Program must have a plant sciences related Master's degree (or equivalent). Exceptions to this rule include the Accelerated Entry or Direct Entry options described below. Criteria for admission include GPA, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, transcripts and availability of faculty, space and facilities. To be admitted into the program, a GPA of 3.25 and at least one PLB faculty member willing to serve as Major Advisor are required. Coadvisors may be included if the student wishes to work in the Forestry or Plant, Soil and General Agriculture departments. Students desiring financial assistance should note that the deadline for fellowship and assistantship applications is February 1. Application forms are available from the Director of Graduate studies in the Department of Plant Biology . Course Requirements Course work for the degree shall consist of a minimum of 20 semester hours at the 400 and 500 levels in the Plant Biology program or related disciplines but excludes seminar, readings, research, dissertation, and research tool requirements. The student may select a minor area of specialization once the major area has been declared. A course proposal including core courses must be approved by the student's Advisory Committee and the respective departmental chair and be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies within the first semester. Changes made after the first semester of the student's program must be approved by the majority of the graduate student's Advisory Committee. Core Courses - Students will enroll in the Plant Biology departmental seminar and a seminar in a related discipline each year. Students also will take either prior to or during their program, courses in all of the following four categories: general plant biology systematics physiology ecology Courses in plant anatomy and genetics are strongly recommended for students pursuing careers in teaching and/or research. Research Tools - Students shall demonstrate knowledge in two research tools approved by his/her Advisory Committee. One of the research tools must be a foreign language or statistics. A tool is defined as training in laboratory (or field) methods, instrumentation, technology, and communication skills including languages that are integral to the pursuance of research. Specific tool requirements will be determined by the student's Advisory Committee. Courses used to satisfy tools requirements shall not be applied toward the total number of hours required for the degree . The foreign language requirement can be met by earning a grade of B or better in an appropriate 400 level course (Latin, French, German, Spanish or Russian). The requirement can also be met by passing an Educational Testing Service (ETS) examination in French, German, Spanish or Russian. The ETS passing level for French and German is 465 and for Russian and Spanish it is 440. If the student holds a degree from an institution in which the official language is not English but one of the above four languages, the language requirement may be waived. Statistics requirements will be satisfied by earning a B or better in at least one graduate level statistics course. Recommended courses include Field Plot Design (PLSS 560a and b) or Inferential Statistics (EPSY 506) and Multiple Regression (EPSY 507) as well as others deemed acceptable by the student's Advisory Committee. Tool requirements other than language or statistics may be completed by earning a B or better in courses selected from current lists approved by the Plant Biology faculty. If a student and his/her committee wish to use a course not on the list as a tool requirement, the student and/or committee can petition to the entire PLB faculty to add the course to the list. Preliminary Examination The student's Advisory Committee, plus two additional faculty members appointed by the chair, shall serve as the Preliminary Examination Committee. This committee will be responsible for preparing, administering, and evaluating the examination which will be both written and oral. The written examination will be taken first and will cover the candidate's knowledge of plant biology and related fields, the student's accomplishments in the course of study outlined, and the student's progress in the special field. Prior to taking the examination, the student must have taken, sometime in her/his training, a second level course in each of the subdisciplines listed for the General Examination (ecology, physiology, anatomy/morphology, systematics, and genetics/cell biology). The candidate will be expected to show an understanding of the application of his/her formal work to the research area. The written examination will consist of three parts: the Specialty examination which will include questions in the student's field of interest, the General Examination which will include questions testing basic knowledge in all subdisciplines in plant biology, and the Minor examination which will include questions in the student's minor field or secondary concentration within plant biology . The General Examination should encompass concepts and information at a level and depth consistent with the department's non-elective requirements for a bachelor's degree in plant biology. The entire written examination is to last no longer than five days and each part is to last no longer than eight hours. The student must pass all parts of the written exam before proceeding to the oral exam. Pass means that the student's Preliminary Examination Committee has determined that the answers given reflect an appropriate level of knowledge of the subject matter. This will be determined by a majoirty vote of the Preliminary Examination Committee which must be taken immediately following the grading of the written examination. If a student fails any part (subdiscipline) of the general examination, she/he must be reexamined on the failed portion. If the student fails more than one portion of the general examination, retesting on all failed portions must be taken concurrently. A student will be allowed only two attempts to pass the written examination or any part thereof. A part is defined as the 1) Specialty examination, 2) Minor Examination, and 3) the General Examination. In any event, the student must pass the written examination by the second attempt in order to continue in the doctoral program. Upon failing the written (or any part thereof), the student may not retake the exam during the same academic term. The oral examination will be taken no sooner than ten days nor later than thirty days following the passing of the written examination. The preliminary examination should be announced (by means of posted flyers) at least 10 working days before the examination is to be given. The examination may only be scheduled when classes are in session, including finals week. The examination shall last at least two hours and no more than four hours and should be scheduled to allow attendance of a maximum number of the Plant Biology graduate faculty and all of the Preliminary Examination Committee members. The student's answers to the written examination will be made available to the graduate faculty in Plant Biology (upon request) before the oral part of the preliminary examination. All attending graduate faculty members will be given the opportunity to express their opinion on the examination. A vote on performance in the oral examination must be taken immediately following completion of the examination. A vote to pass must be by unanimous vote of the Preliminary Examination Committee and may have conditions. If the vote is pass, then two levels of pass may be recognized: Pass and Pass with Distinction. A student will be allowed two attempts to pass the oral preliminary examination. Doctoral students entering the program with a Master's degree must pass the preliminary examination and be admitted to candidacy by the end of 36 calendar months after first registering in the doctoral pro-gram. Final Examination (Dissertation Defense) The final examination will be oral. The advisory committee must notify the departmental Director of Graduate Studies of its recommendation for the date of the final examination at least two weeks before the examination. The final examination should be announced at least 10 working days before the examination is to be given and it must be held at least one month before graduation. The examination may only be scheduled when classes are in session, including finals week. The final examination shall last for no more than three hours. It is to cover the dissertation and related subject matter. Passage of the final oral examination should be construed to mean that there be no more than one dissenting vote of the advisory committee. Should a student fail this second attempt to pass the final examination, he/she will be dropped from the program. View more details on Southern Illinois University Carbondale . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Biology courses.