Biology

Programs and Courses

William B. Cook
Chair, Department of Biology

James Masuoka
Graduate Coordinator

Graduate Faculty:	Brown Marsden, Carlucci, Cook, Hansen, Liang, Machunis-Masuoka, Masuoka, Rincón-Zachary, Scales, Shao, Shipley, Vogtsberger, Watson, Willis
Emeritus Faculty:	Cate, Grimes, Horner, Stangl

The College of Science and Mathematics offers the Master of Science degree with a major in biology. A minor in biology at the graduate level is also offered.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Master of Science Degree in Biology is to build on the students’ undergraduate experience and knowledge; to expose students to the most recent scientific advances in the biological sciences; and to guide the students’ growth as independent thinkers, writers, researchers, and scientists.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the degree program will be determined by the Biology Admissions Committee upon receipt of a complete Application for Admission to the Graduate Program in Biology at Midwestern State University, available at http://www.mwsu.edu/academics/scienceandmath/biology/grad-forms. The application must include official scores for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test. The student must also complete an application for admission to the University which is available on the web site at http://www.mwsu.edu.

Unconditional Admission. An applicant to the graduate degree program in Biology must satisfy the requirements of the University’s graduate admissions policy for unconditional admission found under Admission to the Graduate School . In addition, the applicant must have the following: an undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited college or university; a GPA of at least 3.0 on the last 60 hours of undergraduate work, exclusive of hours awarded by a two-year college; 24 semester hours in biology from an approved institution, including 12 advanced semester hours (junior or senior level); one year of physics; one and one-half years of chemistry, including one semester of organic chemistry; and GRE scores of at least 156 in verbal reasoning, 155 in quantitative analysis and 3.5 in analytical writing.
Conditional Admission. An applicant who is not accepted unconditionally will be evaluated for conditional admission in accordance with the University’s graduate admissions policy for conditional admission found under Admission to the Graduate School . An applicant accepted conditionally due to a deficient background in biology or program requirements will be required to complete undergraduate courses to remove the deficiency.

An applicant accepted conditionally due to GRE Analytical Writing score below 3.5 will be required to complete Technical Writing (ENGL 3203) with a grade of B or better during the first semester.
Admission by Review. An applicant who is denied conditional admission may be evaluated for admission by review in accordance with the University’s graduate admissions policy for admission by review found under Admission to the Graduate School .

Degree Completion Requirements

Thesis (BIOL 6983 , BIOL 6993 )

The Graduate Advisory Committee (GAC) will be appointed for each student at the completion of 9 semester hours and no later than the end of the second semester. The student must submit a thesis research proposal, as outlined in the Biology Graduate Student Handbook, for approval by the GAC.

A reading copy of the thesis, properly formatted and written in the style outlined in the Biology Graduate Student Handbook, must be submitted by the student to the GAC at least six weeks prior to the expected date of the thesis defense. The student must submit a final copy of the thesis to the biology Graduate Coordinator two weeks prior to the expected date of the thesis defense. Oral presentation and thesis defense must take place at least three weeks before the expected date of graduation. Upon successful defense of the thesis, an electronic copy of the thesis must be submitted to the Office of the Graduate School not later than two weeks prior to the end of the semester or summer term in which all work for the degree is completed. A hard copy of the approval page with signatures of the thesis committee members, thesis committee chair, and department chair will be submitted to the Office of the Graduate School at the same time the electronic thesis is submitted. Bound copies of theses may be purchased by the student through the Office of the Graduate School.

Admission to Candidacy

Students are admitted to candidacy upon acceptance of a satisfactory thesis proposal by the GAC.

Programs and Courses

Programs

Major

Biology, M.S.

Graduate Minor

Biology Minor

Courses

Biology

BIOL 3113, 3344, 3434, 4021, 4023, 4444, 4463, 4524, 4684 and 4714 are undergraduate courses which may be taken for graduate credit with permission (see Undergraduate Catalog for course descriptions). For additional information, see Graduate Credit for 3000-4000 Level Courses .