Purpose of Training
Training in Teaching
Qualifying Exam
Student Research Seminars
Graduation

Purpose of Training

The study of the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that give rise to the spatial and temporal dynamics of populations and species is one of the most exciting and rapidly advancing areas of modern science. The general field of Population Biology integrates biological mechanism across many levels of organization, from the molecular forces leading to the evolution of genome organization to large interconnected networks of species in complex ecological systems. Scientists in this challenging area must consequently cross the normal boundary lines dividing traditional disciplines and employ complex, multidisciplinary approaches to begin to understand the evolution, organization and dynamics of natural populations.

The graduate program in Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution provides the multidisciplinary training required for a successful research and teaching career. The program allows the student to learn currently accepted scientific facts and theories; learn to plan, conduct and critically evaluate experiments; make an original contribution to scientific knowledge; become skilled in oral and written communication; and become self-sufficient in continuing education beyond graduate school. The program also prepares the student to teach Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution and related disciplines in professional and graduate schools.

Graduate training in the Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution is research-focused and differs considerably from undergraduate or professional school. The formal course work is intended to provide basic knowledge as well as guidance for self-education by the student scholar. Such self-education is a full-time job and must be an active, rather than passive, process. Much of graduate teaching consists of individualized instruction between students and their advisors, in an atmosphere of cooperative research and discovery.

Students should consider the graduate training program as the beginning of their professional careers, rather than as an extension of schooling as they have known it. The graduate student does many of the same things that occupy professional scientists: reading scientific literature; planning, conducting, and analyzing experiments; and writing grant proposals and publishing papers. The earlier the student becomes proficient at these endeavors, the sooner and further his or her career will progress. Scientific research can be discouraging at times and a great deal of inertia sometimes must be overcome to bring a project to conclusion. However, the rewards to the dedicated student include a sense of accomplishment, independence, and discovery as well as entry into a challenging profession.

Training in Teaching

Training in teaching is valuable for all scientists as we are involved in either formal education or presenting work to our peers or laymen. The Teaching Assistant Training and Teaching Opportunity Program (TATTO) is administered by Emory's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to provide teacher training and experience for doctoral students in the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (GDBBS). Completion of the TATTO program is required for the doctoral degree. http://www.emory.edu/GSOAS/current/teachers_assistants/

Summer Teaching Workshop The three-day summer teaching workshop sponsored by the Graduate School is usually scheduled one week before the fall semester and is the first stage of teacher training. No student may engage in any classroom related teaching activities in his/her training program until completion of the summer workshop. Normally, PBEE students participate in this teaching workshop in the summer following their first year.

Teaching Assistantship (TA) All students in the GDBBS are required to serve as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for one semester usually during the academic year immediately following participation in the TATTO summer workshop. TA duties will often consist of serving as a lecturer, laboratory instructor/assistant, and/or a discussion section leader under the supervision of a faculty member. TA's will also assist students with problems during scheduled office hours, help with the preparation of handout and/or laboratory materials, help administer and grade exams, etc. Students assigned to laboratory courses assist in setting up the laboratory exercises and help students with the theoretical and practical aspects of the exercise as it progresses.

Qualifying Exam

The Graduate School requires a student to demonstrate adequate intellectual mastery of his or her field of specialization and of appropriate supporting fields by passing a general doctoral qualifying examination before being admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree.

Upon completing the required coursework, in the spring semester of the second year students take the program's qualifying exam. The qualifying exam is composed of two parts; a written exam and then an oral exam. The written exam is composed of six pairs of essay and/or problem style questions and designed to test general knowledge of population biology, ecology, and evolution as laid out in general texts and covered in the required core courses. Also, the written exam will test skills in critically evaluating published research. The oral exam follows the written exam a few weeks later and is administered by the faculty within the program. The purpose of the oral exam is to further explore the answers produced during the written portion of the preliminary exam and to assess the student's abilities to express complex ideas and arguments in spoken form. Once the oral exams are completed, student's become candidates for the Ph.D. degree.

Student Research Seminars

Students are strongly encouraged to practice the oral and written communication skills that will be necessary in their field by presenting seminars as part of the PBEE Seminar Series based upon their rotation research projects. These are usually scheduled in the fall semester of the third year, after the completion of the qualifying exam the spring before. These seminar presentations provide students valuable experience in learning effective scientific communication with a familiar audience made up of the PBEE faculty and students.

Graduation

Most students in the program receive their Ph.D. in 5-6 years.