Doctor of Philosophy Degree Requirements

2003 – 2005 Catalog

Graduate College Requirements

  • English

    Non-native speakers must take the English Placement Test, a test of English grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation, at the beginning of the first semester. Students not passing this test must take one or more courses in English. For information, contact the Graduate College or the Student Services Center.

    New teaching assistants whose native language is not English are evaluated before their first teaching assignment using the SPEAK and TEACH tests. These tests are administered by the Graduate College before the beginning of each semester.

  • Foreign Language

    Each Department establishes its own foreign language requirement. See the general requirements for all Ph.D. degrees in the NREM Department.

  • Residence requirement

    At least 24 semester credits must be earned during two consecutive semesters on campus at the University.

  • Time limits

    A student beginning a Ph.D. degree at Iowa State with a M.S. degree from another institution is expected to complete the work for the Ph.D. degree within five years, whereas a student beginning without a M.S. degree is expected to complete the Ph.D. within seven years.

  • Minimum credits

    At least 72 semester credits of acceptable graduate work must be earned for the Ph.D. At least 36 credits, including all dissertation credits must be earned under the supervision of the student's POS committee at Iowa State. Graduate credits of “B” grade or better earned at another institution may be included in the program of study, with committee and Graduate College approval.

  • Educational breadth

    To avoid overspecialization, a significant body of pertinent course work must be taken outside the major field. This work should amount to at least 12 semester hours of credit as required by the student's POS committee.

  • Minor

    Students may declare a formal minor in any department or interdepartmental unit authorized to grant such minors. Requirements for declared minors are determined by the minor department or program and coordinated by the faculty member representing the minor department on the POS committee. To have a minor placed on the transcript after graduation, it must be approved on the POS and listed on all examination reports and the diploma slip.

  • Preliminary exam

    A student must satisfactorily pass a preliminary examination before becoming a doctoral candidate. This exam is comprehensive and should not be restricted only to the content of graduate courses. It usually has two parts: a written exam followed by an oral exam. The oral exam is mandatory and all members of a POS committee (or approved substitutes) must be present. The preliminary exam must be completed within the first three years of enrollment in the graduate program and at least six months before the final examination.

  • Final exam

    Ph.D. candidates must pass a final oral examination at the time all degree work, including the dissertation, is completed. This exam is ordinarily focused on the dissertation but may be more comprehensive in nature.

Departmental Ph.D. Requirements

These requirements pertain to all Ph.D. degree students whose home department is NREM regardless of their major.

  • Research proposal procedure

    All Ph.D. degree students must prepare a research proposal and present an outline of the proposed research to the POS committee. The proposal should be prepared and presented during the calendar year after appointment and prior to commencement of field or laboratory work. At least five days prior to the presentation, copies of the proposal should be distributed to the committee and a notice of the proposal presentation should be given to all departmental faculty and graduate students by e-mail. Faculty not on the POS committee and other graduate students may attend the meeting in which the proposal is presented to the POS committee.

  • Dissertation requirements

    Each student is expected to complete a dissertation produced from original research. Students are also expected to prepare at least one manuscript for publication in a professional journal. This requirement may be met either by including the manuscript as part of the dissertation (alternate thesis format) or by submitting the manuscript to the major professor prior to the final examination.

    All graduate dissertations must comply with the requirements and deadlines established by the Graduate College as stated in the Thesis Manual. Students should become thoroughly familiar with the instructions in the manual. The current Thesis Manual is available online or as downloadable (Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF) documents.

    Copies of the completed dissertation must be distributed to the POS committee and the Department Chair at least two weeks prior to the final examination. After the examination, one bound copy shall be submitted to the Student Services Center for the Department Reading Room and an unbound copy will be provided to the major professor and other members of the POS committee that desire a copy.

  • Teaching experience

    Each student must perform a formal college-level teaching experience. The purpose of the experience is to strengthen the graduate’s qualifications for academic, public, or industrial employment. A student can satisfy this requirement in one of several ways: (1) by serving as a TA for one semester, (2) by teaching a seminar or course in the NREM curriculum, or (3) by assisting an instructor in a course for one semester.

    In the case of option (3) the student would be directly involved in planning subject matter and in teaching that subject matter for a minimum of three weeks in either lecture or laboratory or both. A student with an interest in either an undergraduate or a graduate course may approach the course instructor about assisting in that course. Alternatively, a faculty member may suggest that a student help with the instruction in a particular course. The student would develop a plan with the major professor and the instructor and provide the POS committee with a one-page description for approval prior to implementation of the plan.

    Students will carefully document the teaching-related activities during the semester and submit the documentation to the POS Committee. The student will be given credit in A Ecl/For/NREM 698 (Teaching Practicum) for the teaching experience. This will be graded on a satisfactory-fail basis.

  • Seminar

    Formal, oral presentations are an essential component of the training program in graduate studies. Prior to the final examination, each student is required to present his/her Ph.D dissertation research results in a departmental seminar. Graduate students are expected to attend departmental seminars.

Departmental Ph.D. Curriculum Requirements

These requirements pertain only to Ph.D. degree students with majors offered by the NREM Department.

  • Degree/experience requirements

    A M.S. degree is ordinarily a prerequisite for admission to a Ph.D. program in the NREM Department. However, a person may be admitted without a M.S. degree when previous experience in research and writing is judged to be equivalent to the experience usually obtained during a M.S. program. A student who has completed a M.S. degree in the NREM Department is not considered automatically admitted into the doctoral program. If a student wishes to continue for a Ph.D., he or she must update their application file, and provide a record of recent academic work, a new statement of career goals, and at least one new letter of recommendation from someone other than the faculty member who would be serving as the major advisor.

  • Foreign language

    There is no requirement of foreign language in the NREM Department. The student's POS committee, however, may require a foreign language competence as they so determine.

  • Minimum credit hour requirements

    72 credit hours of acceptable graduate work, including at least 36 semester hours of graduate level course work and at least 30 credit hours of research (A ECL, FOR, NREM 699), must be earned for the Ph.D. (which may include credits earned for the M.S.). Research credits (A ECL, FOR, NREM 699) will be graded on a satisfactory-fail basis. Credit in 500- and 600-level seminars counts as coursework. At least 36 credit hours (including A ECL, FOR, NREM 699 research) must be earned under the supervision of the student's POS Committee at Iowa State, and at least 12 hours must be taken as courses outside the NREM Department (i.e., courses not listed in the NREM Courses and Programs section of the ISU Bulletin).

  • Applicable courses

    Graduate courses at Iowa State are numbered 500 and 600 series. Graduate students may receive graduate credit for lower numbered courses if they are approved for minor credit by the offering Department. The catalog description of each Department lists the courses offered for minor credit. No undergraduate courses offered by the NREM Department may be used for graduate credit. Normally graduate credits of B grade or better earned at another institution are included in the course work for the POS, with Committee and Graduate College approval.

  • Statistics

    Two 400-level or above courses in Statistics are required for all students.

Ph.D. in Animal Ecology

  • Preparation for a Ph.D. in Animal Ecology should include course work equivalent to a M.S. in biological sciences, ecology, or related area.
  • A graduate level course in terrestrial or aquatic plant ecology is required. The course may be selected from the following or an equivalent course:
    • Bot 422I, Prairie Ecology, 4 cr.
    • Bot 484, Plant Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 564/564I, Wetland Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 584, Ecosystem Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 585, Community Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 587, Aquatic and Wetland Microbial Ecology, 3 cr.
    • For 504, Advanced Forest Ecology and Silviculture, 4 cr.
  • Three graduate courses offered by the NREM Department, with at least two from the following:
    • A Ecl 513, Ecological Toxicology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 514, Evolutionary Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 515, Ecology of Freshwater Invertebrates, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 516, Avian Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 518, Stream Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 520/520I, Fish Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 531/531I, Conservation Biology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 535/535I, Restoration Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 544, Aquatic Toxicology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 551, Wildlife Behavioral Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 560, Ecological Resource Management, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 570, Landscape Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 588, Population Ecology, 3 cr.
    • A Ecl 611, Analysis of Populations, 3 cr.

Ph.D. in Fisheries Biology

  • Preparation for an advanced degree should include work equivalent to a M.S. in biological science, including courses in ecology, ichthyology, limnology, fisheries biology, and aquaculture.
  • A Ph.D. program should include two graduate courses in fisheries or related areas offered by the NREM Department. Graduate seminars do not meet this requirement.

Ph.D. in Forestry

  • Preparation for an advanced degree should include work equivalent to a M.S. in biological science, including courses in forestry, biology, botany, ecology, hydrology, environmental science, economics, or wood science.
  • Areas of Specialization for the Ph.D. in Forestry include: Biometry, Economics, and Biology-Wood Science.
  • Demonstration of competence in an area of specialization is defined by completion of: a) two cr. of Seminar (NREM 510) and 14 cr. of Research (FOR 699) beyond the Masters program; b) 3 additional forestry courses at the 500 or 600 level; and c) courses in science basic to the area of specialization and necessary to apply the basic science to forest resource problems.
  • Stat 401 (or equivalent) and at least one additional graduate-level course in statistics are required.
  • At the discretion of the student’s POS Committee, previous graduate course work may be applied in the student’s Ph.D. program of study within the limits prescribed by the Graduate College.

Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology

  • Preparation for an advanced degree should include work equivalent to a M.S. in biological science, including courses in ecology and wildlife biology.
  • A graduate level course in terrestrial or aquatic plant ecology is required. The course may be selected from the following or an equivalent course:
    • Bot 422I, Prairie Ecology, 4 cr.
    • Bot 484, Plant Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 564/564I, Wetland Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 584, Ecosystem Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 585, Community Ecology, 3 cr.
    • Bot 587, Aquatic and Wetland Microbial Ecology, 3 cr.
    • For 504, Advanced Forest Ecology and Silviculture, 4 cr.
  • A Ph.D. program should include 2 graduate courses in wildlife biology or related areas offered by the Department of NREM. Graduate seminars do not meet this requirement.

Ph.D. in Interdepartmental Graduate Majors

In addition to satisfying the Department of NREM Ph.D. degree and curriculum requirements that pertain to all majors (see pages 12-14), students enrolled in an interdepartmental graduate major must also complete the requirements of that major. Inquire of the various interdepartmental majors (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Plant Physiology, Sustainable Agriculture, Toxicology, and Water Resources) for their specific requirements.