Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, PhD

Ecology is the study of how biodiversity is shaped by interacting species and their environment, and evolutionary biology is the study of how biodiversity is generated over time. Together, ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) are an interdisciplinary field of study seeking to understand how the diversity of life, at multiple biological levels of organization, is shaped by processes that act over spatial and temporal scales.UW–Madison has been a national leader in EEB research for a century, ranking highly amongst its peers nationally. The EEB doctoral program draws on faculty broadly drawn from the campus EEB community, while providing a graduate training experience that emphasizes foundational coursework, and a strong community identity. Students enrolled in the program are advised by faculty in departments in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, College of Letters & Science, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the School of Veterinary Medicine. The campus EEB community is strongly committed to being welcoming, respectful and inclusive to all individuals, and strives to train the best EEB graduates in the country. The faculty includes a diverse group of researchers who are broadly interdisciplinary and employ cutting edge technology to address a breadth of research of questions. Individual faculty web pages provide in-depth descriptions of the diversity of research in ecology and evolutionary biology.Dissertation research emphasizes creative and innovative problem-solving through collaboration and academic scholarship. Research projects are individually crafted by students with the guidance of a dissertation committee, who advise the student in professional development and career goals. Students earning a doctoral degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology enter a variety of fundamental and applied fields. Graduates will be prepared for careers in biotechnology, agriculture, environmental science, state and federal government service, and non-profit organizations that work in related research.

A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from an international institution is required. International applicants must have a degree comparable to a regionally accredited U.S. bachelor’s degree. You must have completed your undergraduate degree, or similar, before starting graduate school. A minimum undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 on the equivalent of the last 60 credit hours (approximately two years of work) or a master’s degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 is required. The Graduate School will take into consideration different grade scales from institutions that do not have 4.00 scales (e.g., institutions outside the United States of America).