Botany PhD at University of Wisconsin Madison

The Department of Botany consists of 22 faculty members with about 40 graduate students pursuing M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. The American Council on Education Rating of Graduate Program Quality ranks the department among the top five departments of botany in the country.

Graduate students work with faculty and staff on a range of projects in plant biology at all levels of organization, from molecules, through cells and organs, to populations, communities, and lineages of organisms. Major research areas include molecular, cellular, and developmental biology; structural plant biology; ecology; evolution; and systematics. We also provide advanced instruction and opportunities for research in phycology, bryology, mycology, ethnobotany, paleoecology, conservation and restoration ecology, taxonomy, genetics, and physiology.

Increasingly, graduate student projects encompass two or more of these categories. Master's students may complete a non-thesis program in conservation or restoration ecology designed to prepare them for careers in environmental consulting, natural resource agencies, and nongovernmental organizations.

Students interested in fields bordering botany will find rich opportunities for course work, collaborative research, and seminars in many other departments and schools such as Agronomy, Bacteriology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Engineering, Entomology, Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Genetics, Geography, Geoscience, Horticulture, Physics, Plant Breeding/Plant Genetics, Plant Pathology, Soil Science, Zoology, and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Interdisciplinary work is encouraged.

Graduate study in the Department of Botany requires a combination of advanced course work, participation in seminars, and original research. Course requirements follow one of five tracks: general botany; ecology; evolution; molecular, cellular, and developmental biology; or the non-thesis master's degree in conservation and restoration ecology. The department encourages students to pursue independent research soon after arriving. In consultation with the faculty advisor, each student selects a track that includes courses and research topics related to his or her interests and training in the array of techniques and approaches needed to pursue research.

1. Demonstrate a fundamental breadth of understanding of the basic properties of plant life from the subcellular to the ecosystem level of organization, and an ability to integrate acquired botanical expertise with knowledge of related disciplines including, but not limited to, mathematics, physical sciences, and other life sciences.
2. Apply all elements of the methodological or theoretical framework within a specialized botanical subdiscipline to skillfully develop and execute original research, thereby demonstrating intellectual and technical competency appropriate to that subdiscipline.
3. Achieve a professional level of proficiency communicating scientific research proposals and/or results in written format.
4. Develop skills in oral presentation of scientific research data to peers and general audiences.
5. Evaluate, critique, and apply critical thinking skills to the generation of hypotheses, analysis of data, and interpretation of scientific results in botany and related disciplines.
6. Value and promote professional ethics in the collection, analysis, storage, and presentation of scientific data.
7. Engage in critical and respectful debate, discussion, and exchange of scientific information among peers and audiences of diverse intellectual and personal backgrounds.
8. Appreciate the importance of professional service.