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Botany |
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Program Description
The Department of Botany offers programs leading to the M.S. in Botany or Environmental Science as well as a Ph.D. in Plant Science. Areas of study include physiology, anatomy, phycology, cell biology, ecology, taxonomy, limnology, developmental genetics, biophysics, and biotechnology. Interdisciplinary research is typical with current projects involving the departments of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Plant and Soil Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Zoology, and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
All students are required to conduct original research resulting in a thesis or dissertation. Departmental resources include constant-environment chambers, instrumentation for physiological, biochemical and molecular studies, cold rooms, access to both scanning and transmission electron microscopes, a herbarium comprising 135,000 specimens, and the 160-acre McPherson Preserve. The Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge are among many accessible sites for field research.
Admission Requirements
Applicants for admission must have received a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and should have had 40 semester hours (or equivalent) in upper division courses in biological and physical sciences. A grade-point average of 3.0 (4.0 scale) or above is required for unconditional admission. Applicants having a GPA less than 3.0 may be given probational admission.
Prerequisites for graduate degrees include successful completion of courses in the areas of plant taxonomy or field botany, plant morphology and anatomy, plant physiology or cellular and molecular biology, genetics, and ecology.
All applicants are required to submit scores for the General Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Minimum scores for the GRE verbal/quantitative/ analytical writing are 450/550/4 for MS applicants and 550/600/4.5 for Ph.D. applicants. To send GRE scores to us, please use institution code 6546 and department code 0205 on the score request form.
Applicants for the Ph.D. program normally must have completed or anticipate completion of a M.S. degree or at least 30 hours of graduate work. Truly exceptional applicants with a BA./B.S. and substantial research experience may on occasion be admitted directly to the Ph.D. program Acceptance into the graduate program is contingent upon acceptance of the applicant by at least one member of graduate faculty. Applicants must also submit a letter stating specific research interests and career goals and three letters of reference.
International applicants must receive a TOEFL score of at least 79 (internet based
test), 213 (computer based test), or 550 (paper based test) for M.S. and 85 (internet
based test), 230 (computer based test), or 570 (paper based test) for Ph.D.
Financial Aid
A number of half-time graduate teaching assistantships are available which provide a stipend and an automatic waiver of out-of-state tuition. Additional partial or total waivers of in-state tuition are available in many cases. Research assistantships may be available through faculty grants.
Graduate Faculty List
Andrew Doust, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Melbourne (Australia), 1999. Plant Molecular Evolution: phylogeny, evolutionary genetics, and development of
grasses.
William J. Henley, Professor, Ph.D., Duke University, 1988. Photosynthetic Physiology: physiological ecology of algae from extreme environments.
Yinghua Huang, Adjunct Professor, Ph.D., Michigan Technological University, 1979.
Plant Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology: gene identification, genomics, and pest resistance.
Suzanne McAlister, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Duke University, 1990. Bryophyte Ecology: Bryophyte communities on logs and trees; establishment on different substrata.
David W. Meinke, Regents Professor, Ph.D., Yale University, 1979. Plant Developmental and Molecular Genetics: Embryogenesis and functional genomics of Arabidopsis thaliana.
Michael W. Palmer, Professor, Ph.D., Duke University, 1988. Community Ecology: Ecological theory, conservation of biodiversity, floristics.
Arnon Rikin, Associate Professor, Ph.D., The Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), 1982. Plant Physiology: Plant adaptation to low temperatures: molecular, cellular and physiological studies; the involvement and mechanism of biological clocks.
Kay Scheets, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Kansas State University, 1986. Molecular Biology: Molecular virology of cereal-infecting viruses and seed specific expression in cereal crops.
Gerald Schönknecht, Associate Professor, Ph.D. University of Osnabrück (Germany), 1990. Plant Physiology: Molecular mechanisms of ion uptake during growth and development.
Janette Steets, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, 2005. Plant
Evolutionary Ecology: plant reproductive biology, population ecology, and ecological genetics.
Linda E. Watson, Professor and Department Head, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 1989. Systematic Biology and Plant Taxonomy: evolutionary history and phylogeny and systematics of the Asteraceae.
Ronald J. Tyrl, Professor, Ph.D., Oregon State University, 1969. Taxonomy and Agrostology: Biosystematic studies of angiosperm taxa with emphasis on grasses; classification and phylogeny; studies of Oklahoma flora.
Ming Yang, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Ohio State University, 1996. Molecular Genetics: Cell cycle regulation and cellular morphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Contact Information
Graduate Program Coordinator, Botany Department
104 Life Sciences East
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: (405) 744-5559
Fax: (405) 744-7074
E-mail: ming.yang@okstate.edu
Web: http://botany.okstate.edu/
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