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May 09, 2024
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2023-2024 Graduate Catalog
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Major, PhD
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Students trained in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Tennessee will demonstrate a core knowledge in ecology and evolution. Training will prepare students to pursue careers such as professional ecologists and evolutionary biologists at institutes of higher education, national laboratories, and private industries; land managers; conservation biologists; and bioinformaticians.
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Concentrations (Optional)
- Behavior
- Ecology
- Energy Science and Engineering
- Evolutionary Biology
Campus Code
Knoxville Campus
Admissions Standards/Procedures
- Applications are accepted once a year.
- The deadline for receipt of all application materials is December 1 for those applicants wishing to enroll in the following fall or spring semesters.
- Applications incomplete as of that date or received after that date will not be considered.
- Applicants are expected to have an academic background consistent with a bachelor’s degree in one of the life sciences.
- They are expected to have completed a minimum of one year of general biology, two years of chemistry including one year of general chemistry, one year of physics, and one year of college-level calculus.
- Occasionally, applicants who are highly qualified otherwise but lack one of these courses or course sequences will be admitted with the expectation that the deficiency will be made up within the first year of graduate study.
- Applicants are also expected to have an overall grade point average of at least 3.00 and 3.00 or above for all science and mathematics courses on a 4.00 scale (successful applicants will usually have grade point averages well above these minima).
- The departmental application requires three letters of reference from persons capable of assessing the applicant’s suitability for graduate work in biology and a statement of professional goals and reasons for applying to this program.
- Application must be made to the Office of Graduate Admissions.
- Applicants for the doctoral degree are expected to have made prior contact with potential research advisors in the department’s graduate program. Inquiries should be directed to the Chair of Graduate Admissions, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Dabney 569, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1610.
Credit Hours Required
- 72 graduate credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree
- 48 graduate credit hours beyond the master’s degree
Required Courses
In addition to general requirements of the Graduate Council, aspirants for the Doctor of Philosophy degree are expected to complete course requirements as determined by the department to include:
Additional Course Requirements
- Energy Science and Engineering concentration is offered in collaboration with the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education. The ESE concentration is a joint effort between University of Tennessee colleges and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The students who wish to pursue this concentration will normally have completed 6 credit hours of the ESE Core for the Bredesen students, 8 credit hours of the Core for EEB students, and 1 credit hour of ESE seminar. For more details see Energy Science and Engineering Major, PhD.
- All other credit hours must be from an approved list including:
Non-Course Requirements
- The concentrations (Behavior, Ecology, Energy Science and Engineering, and Evolutionary Biology) are areas of focused research. They are not distinguished by specific courses.
- Graduate students are expected to make progress towards meeting degree requirements. For more detailed information, see the EEB Graduate Handbook.
- Pass a written and oral comprehensive examination designed to test for adequate knowledge in those areas essential to the student’s research program; ideally by end of 2nd year, but must be completed by end of 5th semester Students then apply for admission to candidacy for PhD degree
- Satisfactorily complete and defend a dissertation with oral exam and public seminar
- The department does not require a reading knowledge of a foreign language, but this may be imposed by the student’s faculty dissertation research committee. If so, the student has the option of demonstrating reading knowledge of the prescribed language by either
- passing the official reading examination given by the language department or
- earning a grade of at least a B in the second semester of a special language reading course for graduate students.
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