The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The curriculum is designed to encourage maximum student choice and independence while maintaining a close student-advisor relationship. Students are encouraged to adopt a broad, integrative view of science and biological research. Course offerings cover such areas as animal and plant physiology, plant ecology, plant-animal interactions, population biology, structural and evolutionary biology, systematic biology, environmental toxicology, marine/estuarine ecology, and the biology of diverse groups of plants and animals. Students participate in an active departmental seminar program and informal research discussion groups.
Students are accepted into either the master's or the doctoral program. Upon entering, students are assigned a temporary faculty advisor and are informally examined in genetics, general ecology, and evolutionary biology; based upon the results of that examination, the department makes recommendations as to the student's future course of study. By the end of the first year the student must select a permanent advisor, and by the end of the second year all formal course work is usually completed. After two years, master's students normally will have completed all requirements for their degree; the doctoral degree normally requires four or five years of study leading to the production of a publishable dissertation.
Research facilities and opportunities in the Department are excellent. Students and faculty researchers have access to a centralized instrumentation facility that includes state-of-the-art transmission and scanning electron microscopes and extensive facilities located in the adjacent Center for Bioenvironmental Research. In addition to various stand-alone desktop computers, students may use the University's own UNIX based computing network. Other facilities include a greenhouse, growth-chambers, and facilities for culture of aquatic organisms.
The university maintains large museum collections of plant and animal specimens, especially of fishes (six million specimens), mammals (6,300 specimens), amphibians and reptiles (60,000 specimens), vascular plants (110,000 specimens), and other groups. These collections are recognized as among the most significant in the United States and form the basis of diverse research in systematic biology, functional morphology, and ecology. The university's nine libraries house roughly two million volumes and receive 15,000 serials, most of which are located in the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library; other important libraries include the Meade Library of Natural History and the Koch Botanical Library. The latter is housed within the EEB department. Additional local library resources include those of the Tulane Medical Center, the Southern Forest Experiment Station (USDA), Loyola University, and the University of New Orleans.
Opportunities for field study are excellent, both in the Gulf Coast area and in the tropics, and many graduate courses include a field component. The Riverside Research Laboratories, located in Belle Chasse, just 10 miles from the main campus, are part of a 500-acre research station supporting ecological research and teaching. Other sites available for graduate research include the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park in Lafitte, Louisiana and the Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, Mississippi. Tulane is an associate member of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, which operates a modern marine research laboratory at Cocodrie, Louisiana, where summer graduate-level courses are regularly offered. In addition, the University is a member of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) and Tulane graduate students regularly participate in OTS courses in Costa Rica; and Tulane is one of a few universities formally associated with the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kauai, Hawaii.
Qualified applicants may be eligible for teaching assistantships and research assistantships, which carry full tuition scholarships. In addition, there are highly competitive Doctoral Research Fellowships available. Please see the section on Financial Support for more detailed information.
Graduate tuition for the current academic year can be found HERE, however students with assistantships or fellowships typically receive a scholarship to cover the cost of tuition. The only direct costs to students are for activity fees and books. On-campus housing is available, but most students prefer to live in nearby residential neighborhoods.
There are twenty-nine graduate students currently enrolled in the EEB department. Tulane University enrolls approximately 5,000 graduate and professional students in diverse programs as law, medicine, engineering, the sciences, arts and humanities.
Tulane's uptown campus is located in an historic neighborhood four miles from downtown New Orleans, one of the most interesting and colorful cities in the nation. Street cars connect Tulane with Canal Street and the French Quarter, with its distinctive heritage and entertainment offerings. The Louisiana Philharmonic, the Opera Association, various theatrical and jazz groups, antique and art galleries, and other cultural amenities add to the city's flavor. Festivals are a way of life in New Orleans, ranging from the Jazz and Heritage Festival, Crawfish and Catfish Festivals, and the world famous Mardi Gras. Other attractions include the Audubon Zoo, Aquarium of the Americas, the Louisiana Superdome, and superb conference facilities that attract many scientific conferences. To find out more about New Orleans, go to Dr. Fleury's Everything's Hot Down in New Orleans.
Tulane University is one of the major private universities in the United States. Originally founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834, a graduate school was added in 1884. Today, Tulane offers graduate degrees in 46 fields and thus provides a strong and diverse academic environment. With 11 schools and colleges, Tulane gives its 12,976 students a breadth of choice equaled by few other private universities in the country.
Prospective applicants should contact the faculty member with whom they are interested in studying before making an application. We have a limited number of positions open each year, and some labs do not accept new students in certain years. Moreover, we do not accept students into our graduate program without the faculty member and the prospective student having had the opportunity to discuss the student's potential project and the working relationship in advance of the decision on the application for graduate study. Thus, contacting the person with whom you want to work is an important step before making an application.
Applicants for admission should have a strong undergraduate record, particularly in the biological sciences, and enthusiasm for a research career. The Graduate Record Examination (the GRE - General Test and Biology Subject Test) is required. TOEFL scores are required of all applicants from countries where English is not the native language. Most applicants have taken undergraduate courses in chemistry (including organic chemistry), mathematics (including calculus), and physics, but the college background should be appropriate to the student's proposed area of graduate study and career goals. All applicants must be able to express themselves in clear written English. Applicants for the doctoral program are strongly encouraged to correspond with, telephone, or visit department faculty with whom they many wish to study. The deadline for completion of applications for admission in the fall semester is February 1st. We do consider applicants for spring admission, however, spring admissions are rare. The deadline for completion of applications for admission in the spring semester is October 1st. All applicants must use the online application form available HERE.
Dr. David C. Heins, Chair
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Dinwiddie Hall, Room 310
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118-5698
Phone: (504) 865-5191
Fax: (504) 862-8706