• Prospective Grad Students
  • Why our department?
  • Applying
  • Faculty
  • Funding
  • The Ph.D. Program
  • About our department
  • Resources
• Current Graduate Students
  • EEB Forms
  • EEB Handbook
  • Degree Certification
  • Funding
  • Resources

Prospective Grad Students: Why our department?

Why should you get your Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona?

Our Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology provides training for students and fosters excellence in research and academic careers in the study of biological diversity at all levels. Because of the strength of our faculty research, and the excellence of our graduate program, we are one of the top-rated research departments in ecology and evolutionary biology in the U.S.*

Our faculty members tend to take an integrative approach, each blending several approaches and disciplines. Indeed, it is fair to say that one of our greatest strengths is not a particular research area, but an attitude fostering interaction and interdisciplinary exploration. This is reflected in our extensive interactions with other units on campus.

Our department is particularly strong in the study of:

(view a list of faculty research interests)

Principal strengths of the program include an active and well-known faculty, a superb location for field research, an outstanding seminar program that regularly brings exciting outside speakers to the Department, and the extensive interaction between students and faculty. Visiting faculty and active postdoctoral associates enrich the graduate program.

Finally, during their tenure in the EEB program, the large majority of doctoral students receive external funding for their support and/or research. Our Ph.D. graduates also have been very successful in securing postdoctoral research positions and faculty appointments.

* We are rated in the 90th percentile by the National Academy of Sciences in "effectiveness of research doctorate program" among 126 eeb departments. According to an Academic Program Review report (an external review of our department, April 2003), our department "has long had one of the best graduate programs in the field."