Graduate education at Cornell University is organized by Fields - groups of faculty who share an area of common scientific interest and come together in the training of graduate students. The Graduate Field of Genetics and Development includes some of the faculty in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and faculty with similar interests from a variety of other Departments, such as Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Neurobiology and Behavior, Plant Biology, Plant Breeding, Computational Biology, Vet Biomedical Sciences, the Boyce Thompson Institute, and the Baker Institute. This provides students with a wide variety of possible research opportunities.
Doctoral Program in the Field of Genetics and Development
Only students intending to acquire a Ph.D. degree are admitted. Applicants must submit GRE general test scores and are advised to submit scores on the GRE subject test in biology or biochemistry. Evidence of previous successful research experience will greatly strengthen an application. Applicants whose native language is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) unless they have studied for two or more years in, or received a degree from a college or university in a country where English is both the language of instruction and the native language
The application deadline for admission in the fall is December 15. There is no spring admission.Getting started. Cornell's Field of Genetics and Development encompasses a wide range of research areas in molecular genetics of developmental and cellular processes as well as evolutionary genetics. New graduate students are introduced to specific research programs by faculty members during their first semester. In addition, current graduate students and postdoctoral fellows discuss their research progress in weekly seminars. During the first semester, new graduate students pick laboratories they might want to work in and arrange to spend 2-month rotation periods in three labs. Students generally start rotations in mid-October of their first year and settle into a laboratory for their thesis research at the beginning of their first summer. Rotations provide valuable exposure to different research goals, styles and approaches, and are therefore strongly encouraged.
Graduate students in the Field of Genetics and Development may choose as their concentration either Genetics or Development. In addition, each student must choose one minor subject. The minor subject is often Biochemistry, Genetics, Development, Microbiology, Plant Biology, Neurobiology and Behavior, or Evolutionary Biology. Minors in other subjects are also possible.
Special Committees. The progress of each graduate student at Cornell is guided and supervised by his or her "Special Committee" which consists of the thesis research supervisor and two other faculty members representing the minor subjects chosen by the student. Each student puts together a Special Committee at the end of his or her first year. The Special Committee system offers great flexibility to the Ph.D. program since neither the Graduate School nor the Field of Genetics and Development demand a fixed course of study.
Courses. In addition to an individualized course curriculum recommended by the student's Special Committee, each student participates in a "Problems" course during his/her first semester and attends three additional semesters of a graduate seminar course, in which students present lectures based on current research literature. This seminar is led by a different faculty member each semester so that the focus of the course varies. Also, each student is required to take a discussion course on scientific ethics.
Students interested in developmental biology can pursue a broadly based program in this area at Cornell. The present developmental biologists of the Field of Genetics and Development focus primarily on molecular approaches. Other developmental biologists, whose interests are principally in morphogenesis, members of the Fields of Zoology and/or Comparative Biomedical Sciences.
Examinations. Each graduate student must pass an Admission to Candidacy exam before the start of the fifth semester to qualify as a candidate for the Ph.D. The examiners are the members of the student's Special Committee and two other faculty members chosen jointly by the student and his or her thesis advisor. The exam includes preparation and oral defense of a written research proposal. The purpose of the exam is to test the student's level of knowledge and ability to design research strategies. The final exam consists of the graduate student's oral defense of the Ph.D. thesis before the Special Committee and a seminar presentation to the Field.
Financial support. Our students receive stipends and tuition support from a variety of sources including Cornell University fellowships, outside fellowships (for example from the National Science Foundation), teaching assistantships, traineeship funded by the National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Training Grant in Genetics and Development and research assistantships funded by individual faculty laboratories. All graduate students are required to participate in teaching for at least one semester during their studies. Students making satisfactory progress in academic, research, and teaching pursuits receive financial support, including tuition fellowships or waivers. Support beyond five years will be contingent on a review of progress by the Director of Graduate Studies and Department Chair in consultation with the major professor and student.
Diane Colf, Graduate Field Assistant
Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics
107 Biotechnology Building
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2703
607-255-2100
FAX: 607-255-6249
gendev@cornell.edu or dmc18@cornell.edu
Bik Tye, Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics
325 Biotechnology Building
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2703
607-255-2445
bt16@cornell.edu