Executive Officer: Professor Christopher Blair

The Graduate Center

365 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10016

Email: Biology@gc.cuny.edu

https://biology.gc.cuny.edu

FACULTY

Zaghloul Ahmed, Alejandra Alonso, Susan Alter, Sebastian Alvarado, Asohan Amarasingham, Barbara Ambrose, Robert Anderson, Cesar Arenas-Mena, Kate Armstrong, Ivica Arsov, Undieh Ashiwel, Pinar Ayata, Andrea Baden, Mitchell Baker, Michael Balick, Maryam Bamshad-Alavi, Probal Banerjee, Jill Bargonetti-Chavarria, George Barrowclough, Jennifer Basil, Laura Beaton, Jeff Beeler, Nicolas Biais, Marom Bikson, Jeffrey Bird, Christopher Blair, Richard Bodnar, Brian Boom, Louis Bradbury, Diana Bratu, Christopher Braun, Derrick Brazill, Patricia Broderick, Joshua Brumberg, Frank Burbrink, Avrom Caplan, Ana Carnaval, James Carpenter, Patrizia Casaccia, Murat Cevher, Abha Chauhan, Hai-Ping Cheng, Gregory Cheplick, Joanna Coleman, Maria Contel, Joel Cracraft, Douglas Daly, Columba de la Parra, John Dennehy, Rob DeSalle, Jacek Dmochowski, Krista Dobi, Timothy DuBac, Robert Duncan, Laurel Eckhardt, Jay Edelman, Helene Eisenman, Abdeslem El Idrissi, Mark Emerson, Lesley Emtage, Jimmie Fata, Paul Feinstein, Maria Figueiredo-Pereira, John Flynn, Paul Forlano, David Foster, Robert Freedland, Allyson Friedman, Eitan Friedman, Jean Gaffney, Julio Gallego-Delgado, Kevin Gardner, M. Felice Ghilardi, Christopher Gilbert, Mitchell Goldfarb, Cheng-Xi Gong, Jeffrey Goodman, J. Stephen Gosnell, Dixie Goss, Paul Gottlieb, Shubha Govind, Sanna Goyert, Frank Grasso, Nancy Greenbaum, David Grimaldi, David Gruber, Marilyn Gunner, Roy Halling, Mark Hauber, Cheryl Hayashi, Qi He, Ye He, Andrew Henderson, Michael Hickerson, Mandё Holford, Nathalia Holtzman, Shao-Ying Hua, Karen Hubbard, Amy Ikui, Khalid Iqbal, Anuradha Janakiraman, Edmund Jenkins, David Jeruzalmi, Michelle Juarez, Mohammed Junaid, Kenneth Karol, Khosrow Kashfi, Daniel Keedy, Lawrence Kelly, Edward Kennelly, Reza Khayat, Pegah Khosravi, Eunsoo Kim, Dwight Kincaid, Frida Kleiman, Maria Knikou, Ronald Koder, Manpreet Kohli, Andreas Kottmann, Konstantinos Krampis, William L’Amoreaux, David Lahti, James Lendemer, Shao-Ying Levinger, Jonathan Levitt, Christine Li, Ekaterina Likhtik, Hyungsik Lim, Peter Lipke, Amy Litt, Damon Little, Diego Loayza, David Lohman, PoKay Ma, Margaret MacNeil, Shahana Mahajan, John Maisey, Hernan Makse, Prabodhika Mallikaratchy, Lisa Manne, Itzhak Mano, John Martin, Alex McAlvay, Daniel McCloskey, Kyle McDonald, Alicia Meléndez, Carmen Melendez-Vasquez, Jin Meng, Fabian Michelangeli, Susana Mingote, Robbin Moran, Syed Mujtaba, Jason Munshi-South, Theodore Muth, Robert Naczi, Eugenia Naro-Maciel, Michael Novacek, Brad Oberle, Olorunseun Ogunwobi, Benjamin Ortiz, Hysell Oviedo, Lucas Parra, Pablo Peixoto, Susan Perkins, Charles Peters, Mark Pezzano, Greg Phillips, Gregory Plunkett, Juergen Polle, Lorenzo Prendini, Carolyn Pytte, Weigang Qiu, Luis Quadri, Vanya Quiñones-Jenab, Joseph Rachlin, Jayne Raper, Stephen Redenti, Juan Rivera-Correa, Tony Ro, Patricia Rockwell, Robert Rockwell, Estefania Rodriguez, Adrian Rodriguez-Contreras, Susan Rotenberg, Jessica Rothman, Andrey Rudenko, David Rumschitzki, Shireen Saleque, Renuka Sankaran, Moira Sauane, Cathy Savage-Dunn, Anjana Saxena, Mara Schvarzstein, David Schwab, Peter Serrano, Orie Shafer, Chang-Hui Shen, Mark Siddall, Nancy Simmons, Shaneen Singh, Ratna Sircar, Brian Smith, John Sparks, Linda Spatz, Rebecca Spokony, Phillip Staniczenko, Ruth Stark, Eleanor Sterling, Dennis Stevenson, Gillian Stewart, Melanie Stiassny, Barbara Studamire, Larissa Swedell, Maral Tajerian, Ofer Tchernichovski, Michael Tessler, William Thomas, Benjamin Torke, Mariana Torrente, Ina Vandebroek, Richard Veit, Robert Voss, Bao Vuong, John Waldman, William Wallace, Hoau-Yan Wang, Jessica Ware, Daniel Weinstein, Ward Wheeler, Osceola Whitney, Andrzej Wieraszko, Anthony Wilson, Andrew Wolfe, Eleanore Wurtzel, Lei Xie, Leora Yetnikoff, Jun Yoshioka, Zahra Zakeri, Chester Zarnoch, H. Philip Zeigler, Wei Zhang, Zhi-Liang Zheng, Hualin Zhong

THE PROGRAM

The Ph.D. Program in Biology offers graduate studies in four broad areas of concentration: ecology, evolutionary biology, and behavior; molecular, cellular, and developmental biology; neuroscience; and plant sciences. The faculty and their research laboratories are based at six campuses (Brooklyn, City, Hunter, Lehman, and Queens colleges and the College of Staten Island) and several affiliated institutions (the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Institute for Basic Research). The Ph.D. is awarded by the Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York, through which an en-route M.A. degree may also be awarded. The Graduate Center administers the program through the Executive Officer for the Ph.D. Program in Biology, an Executive Committee, which includes student representatives, and an advisory committee representing each of the above subject areas.

The course of study is determined by the student’s background and selected area of interest. Guidance is initially provided by the Graduate Deputy Chair at the campus at which the student is based and overseen by the program office and the appropriate advisory committee. During the first year, study is directed toward preparation for the First Examination, which is offered annually in the four above-mentioned subject areas. In the second year, students pursue more specialized work under the guidance of their mentor and advisory committee, directed toward the knowledge and techniques necessary to become an effective research scientist. Students may take courses or use facilities located at any unit of CUNY or at the affiliated institutions. Laboratory and field studies stress independent research—training that should enable the student to evaluate related literature critically and to respond successfully to future advances in his or her field. Advanced seminars, colloquia, tutorials, lectures by visiting scientists, and other student-faculty contacts also contribute to the widening of the student’s outlook and experience.

Courses

Diverse course offerings within each of the four major areas of specialization provide students with the basic knowledge and skills on which to build for more specialized training and research. The areas vary in the manner by which students are directed in their initial year in the program. The areas of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology (MCD), ecology, evolutionary biology, and behavior (EEB), and neuroscience (NS) recommend a directed ‘‘core’’ of three to four basic courses. On the other hand, students in the plant sciences (PS) area are, in consultation with an adviser, directed toward courses most appropriate to their career aims and research directions.

The ultimate aim of a student’s first year in the program is to develop the comprehensive background necessary to complete the First Examination successfully in the chosen area. Advanced-level courses, along with seminars, tutorials, and advanced-study courses as well as courses offered by other Ph.D. programs (Biochemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Psychology, etc.), complete the menu of offerings from which the student and the adviser may choose. In addition, students may take up to 10 credits of independent doctoral research. Each semester, the program office compiles a listing of course offerings, including the name of the professor(s) and a paragraph describing the course. Students should also consult the listing of faculty and specializations in order to select opportunities for potential research areas.

En-route M.A.

All students must satisfactorily complete the following requirements, all of which are already required as part of their doctoral training, before applying for the en-route M.A. degree:

1. Complete a minimum of 45 GPA credits with an average grade of “B,” including all of the core course requirements for the Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology (MCD), the Neuroscience (NS), the Plant Sciences (PS), or the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Behavior (EEB) areas of study,

2. Responsible Conduct of Research certification,

3. Pass the First Doctoral Examination (First Exam), and

4. Satisfactorily complete a research paper approved by a member of the Biology doctoral faculty. As with other en-route M.A. degrees at the Graduate Center, students must be enrolled and have met their financial obligations to the University.

Name	Degree	Type	NYSED Code	HEGIS Code	CIP Code
Biology	MA - Master of Arts	Major	39544 - BIOL-MA	0401.00	26.0101
Biology	MPHIL - Master of Philosophy	Major	78745 - BIOL-MPHIL	0401.00	26.0101
Biology	PHD - Doctor of Philosophy	Major	02305 - BIOL-PHD	0401.00	26.0101
Biology	PHD - Doctor of Philosophy	Major	32541 - BIOLC-PHD	0401.00	26.0101
Biology	PHD - Doctor of Philosophy	Major	32546 - BIOLH-PHD	0401.00	26.0101

Department: Biology