Botany, PhD

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The PhD program includes gaining a working knowledge in an approved foreign language or other research-tool subject, as well as passing a comprehensive examination and writing a dissertation. Suitability of the language or tool subject is determined by the graduate faculty according to the student’s area of specialization, and proficiency is ordinarily determined by examination or satisfactory completion of a specific course of study.

Requirements

The comprehensive examination is a combination of oral and written parts. The exam is conducted by the candidate’s committee, plus any members of the graduate faculty who wish to attend. In addition to general botany, the candidate is examined in-depth in areas of related disciplines that have been previously agreed upon by the student and the committee.

The dissertation is expected to be an original contribution based on independent research. It is initiated by the preparation of a critical review of the literature that becomes the basis for a dissertation proposal. Dissertation research for the PhD degree is carried out in an aspect of botanical sciences for which a member of the graduate faculty of the field will accept responsibility as committee chair.