The PhD in Biology is a research-intensive program and also has a strong focus on teaching. The program's primary goal is to develop independent and creative research scientists, which is accomplished through research training, graduate-level courses, seminars, and teaching experience. Your advisory committee of three faculty members will work with you to plan a program of study based on your experience, interests and goals.
Because our program is very individualized, we encourage interested students to look over faculty research areas and email a potential supervisor for information before the application deadline. An effective email is a brief summary of your background and interests and how they fit with the research in a specific lab group. All admissions decisions are made by the Biology Department Graduate Admissions Committee, only after receipt of a full application through this website.
As a student in the program, you'll receive extensive training in pedagogy, outreach, and communication that will prepare you for careers in academia, biotechnology, education, and policy. Graduate students serve as teaching assistants in undergraduate courses and have the opportunity to take a course on teaching and pedagogy to improve their skills, or to become involved with upper-level courses in their area of expertise. During the first year, you'll also become familiar with research opportunities in the department by doing short research rotations with various faculty members. This experience in expected to lead to the selection of a research focus for your PhD thesis, and it also sets the stage for cross-disciplinary approaches to the thesis topic.
Graduates of the PhD in Biology become top research scientists and educators equipped with a broad base of knowledge to tackle the most important biological problems of today.
See Tuition and Financial Aid information for GSAS Programs. Accepted PhD students in Biology receive full tuition support for six years, a competitive stipend, and health coverage.
The graduate program in biology is arranged into six concentrations, each with an advisor and a core of faculty researchers:
Average Salary: $90K - $150K+
Would Recommend the Program: 100%*
Average Age: 28
*Sources: GSAS-SOE Graduate Exit Survey 2020 - 2021 and Academic Analytics (Alumni Insights)
Research/Areas of Interest: Biomechanics and Neural Control of Locomotion
Research/Areas of Interest: Drug development strategy, policy, and economics.
Research/Areas of Interest: Evolution and Genetics of Natural Populations
Research/Areas of Interest: Ecology, Behavior and Evolution and Global Change Biology
Research/Areas of Interest: Genetics and Molecular Biology. Genome instability, particularly at sites of repetitive and structure-forming DNA.
Research/Areas of Interest: Enzymology of DNA replication, mitochondrial DNA, nucleic acid biochemistry, and non-canonical DNA structures.
Research/Areas of Interest: Neural basis of vocal communication
Research/Areas of Interest: Morphological and behavioral information processing in living systems
Research/Areas of Interest: Molecular Development (Organogenesis: Development, Remodeling, Regeneration)
Research/Areas of Interest: DNA repair, DNA damage tolerance, molecular biology, Drosophila genetics, aging, mutagenesis
Research/Areas of Interest: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Research/Areas of Interest: Agroecology, climate change, climate adaptation, plant-herbivore interactions
Research/Areas of Interest: Avian ecology and conservation biology
Research/Areas of Interest: Stress Physiology and Field Endocrinology
Research/Areas of Interest: Animal Behavior: Recognition systems, evolution of sociality, parasite and host relationships, behavioral & chemical communication, invasion genetics
Research/Areas of Interest: Control of locomotion and the neural processes that organize sensory and motor information
Research/Areas of Interest: Population genetics, evolution, ecology, computational biology
Research/Areas of Interest: Ecology and evolution of microbial communities