Program Overview

Botany and Plant Pathology Graduate Major (MA, MS, PhD)

The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in the field of botany and plant pathology.

Graduate Areas of Concentration

The approved areas of concentration are:

• Ecology: includes physiological, population, community, ecosystem and global studies in ecology.
• Genetics: includes molecular, classical and population studies of the genetics of plants, fungi, and plant-associated microorganisms.
• Genomics and computational biology: include the functional, comparative and structural study of plant, fungal, viral and bacterial genomes and the development and application of bioinformatic algorithms and tools used in the analysis of genomic data.
• Molecular and cellular biology: include studies of molecular and cellular mechanisms active during plant development, molecular aspects of plant-pathogen interactions, and various aspects of gene regulation, signal transduction, and the cytoskeleton.
• Mycology: includes the systematics, ecology, and population genetics of lichenized and nonlichenized fungi.
• Plant pathology: includes studies in the areas of bacteriology, nematology, virology, forest pathology, epidemiology of plant diseases, the physiology of parasitism, and the molecular and biochemical basis of plant host-pathogen interactions.
• Plant physiology: includes investigations of the regulation of plant growth and development, the molecular and physiological basis of plant-microbe interactions, nitrogen metabolism and the nitrogen cycle, and problems in environmental and stress physiology in plant systems.
• Systematics: includes investigations of the taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography of plants, fungi, and lichens.

Program Requirements

The MS and PhD degrees offered by the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology require, in addition to course work, research resulting in the presentation and defense of a thesis. A nonthesis MS degree also is available for students with specific career goals. PhD candidates must pass a preliminary examination upon completion of their course work. In addition, PhD students are required to be a teaching assistant for two quarters.

Interdisciplinary Programs

Students majoring in any one area of concentration may incorporate into their programs minors in other areas within the department or minors in other departments and colleges. Integrated minors, and interdisciplinary programs in plant physiology, molecular and cellular biology, genetics, and environmental sciences are also available.

Major Code

The major code for the Botany and Plant Pathology Graduate Major is 5160.