Information for students interested in graduate school
Grad school is about research
For a student in a Ph.D. or research M.S. program, graduate school is really about research, not classes. While you will take some classes, especially in your first year or two, the most important part of your education will come from doing research yourself. Therefore selecting a grad school is as much about selecting a professor (that is, selecting a 'lab') as it is about selecting a program and a university. This works both ways: professors are looking for students who will be successful in research in the professor's field. information about Dr. Fowler's research
Therefore, grad students are selected by a professor as well as by a program
Applicants in ecology, evolution, or behavior are not admitted to UT unless an individual professor indicates that he or she wishes to have the applicant as a student in his/her lab. If there is no one here whose research area matches your interests, or the professor(s) you want to work with don't have room in their lab(s) that year, you will not be admitted. Therefore, if you are interested in working with me, please (1) be sure to let me know early in the process, and (2) be sure include my name in the appropriate place in your application, so that I am sure to see your file. And please feel free to contact me if you think you might be interested in coming here and ask me whatever questions you may have before you decide whether or not to apply.
Program options
Students working with me have two options, the
Plant Biology Graduate
Program and the
EEB
(Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior) Graduate Program. It's up to you to
choose which one fits you best. The primary differences are the course
requirements and the makeup of your prelim (=qualifying) exam committee.
All of my students are expected to be very knowledgeable in ecology and in
closely related fields such as evolution, but Plant Biology students are also
tested in plant biology at the cellular and molecular levels during their prelim
exam, while EEB students are also tested in animal behavior.
Note that the Graduate Programs are not the same as, and do not match, the Sections within the School of Biological Sciences. I am a member of the Section of Integrative Biology.
Application and admission process
Applications are now submitted on-line (entry point). You might start, however, with general information about graduate study at UT.
During the admissions period, applications are considered when they are complete. There are real advantages to completing your application promptly. Each professor only admits one or two students a year; by the time a late application comes in there may be no more room in his/her lab. And fellowships are usually offered only very early in the process.
If you are applying to the EEB Graduate Program and need help with some part of the application process itself, the person to contact is Sandy Monahan; her counterpart in the Plant Biology Graduate Program is Tamra Rogers. Sandy and Tamra are staff members (title: Graduate Coordinator), not faculty. They do not decide who gets admitted. They handle the administration of their respective graduate programs, from applications to dissertation defenses. Both of them do fantastic jobs of taking care of their grad students.
Admission criteria
Everything is taken into account - grades, letters of recommendation, GRE scores, your application essay. Your essay should include a description of your scientific interests, to the extent you have defined them. I am also interested in any training or other relevant experiences that are not apparent from your transcript, such as an internship or paid employment as a research technician. If you have done an undergraduate research project I would like to see a copy of the paper or report you wrote about it. You may send extra material like a project report directly to me if you want. I am also interested in whether you have had any experience with field work. Finally, I am interested in whether you are comfortable with a scientific field that will probably require you to learn quite a bit more statistics, math, and computer programming than an average biology B.S. student graduates with.
Please don't be discouraged if you have not had an internship, have not done undergraduate research, have not worked as a technician, have not done field work.... These are desirable but not required items in your background.
Because of the importance of research, letters from people who will evaluate your potential as a researcher - faculty or other research scientists -are usually more useful than letters from, for example, an employer at an environmental consulting firm.
Support
We do not admit students without also offering them financial support.
Most of our students support themselves by working as teaching assistants.
I have supported some students with research assistantships, but these usually
go to more advanced students. My students have also been quite successful
in competing for university fellowships.
Applicants with exceptionally strong records may be awarded
fellowships. If this describes you and you are interested in coming here,
try to apply as soon as possible -- fellowship offers are made very early, as a
recruiting tool. And consider applying on your own for an
NSF graduate
fellowship.
Other faculty, other departments, etc.
The faculty of the
Section of Integrative Biology includes a number of other ecologists:
Larry Gilbert,
Christine Hawkes,
Tim
Keitt,
Marcy Litvak,
Mathew Leibold,
Camille Parmesan,
Eric Pianka, and
Sahotra Sarkar. There are also ecologists in the
Marine Science
Institute and in the
Department
of Geography and the Environment. Ecologists from all three units
participate in the
Environmental Sciences Institute, which brings together biologists,
geologists, hydrologists, geographers, and others from across the university.
The Section of Integrative Biology is also very strong in evolutionary biology:
check out the web pages of the many evolutionary biologists in
Integrative Biology, some of whom, such as
Dan Bolnick and
Mike Singer, also do some ecological research.