1. Course Requirements. Required coursework as follows:
a. Disciplinary Core Course: The Theory of Evolution (UCR EEOB 216)
b. Disciplinary Courses: at least two from the following topics (the two courses must cover
different disciplines; at least one must be taken at UCR):
· Ecology: Genes to Ecosystems (UCR EEOB 211)
· Ecological Systems in Space And Time (UCR EEOB 212)
· Behavioral Ecology (UCR EEOB 213)
· Population Genetics (UCR EEOB 214 or SDSU Biol 624)
· Population and Community Ecology (UCR EEOB 217)
· Theory of Systematics (UCR EEOB 219) or Phylogenetic Systematics (SDSU Biol 740)
· Evolutionary Physiology (UCR EEOB 220)
c. Current Research Topics: in each quarter/semester of residence at UCR and SDSU
· while at UCR, BIOL 252 General Colloquium in Biology (or another disciplinary colloquium)
and EEOB 265 Advances in Population and Evolutionary Biology (lunch bunch)
· while at SDSU, the students will take a comparable colloquium/seminar course (i.e., Seminar
in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (each semester; SDSU Biol 795)
2. Qualifying Exam. By the end of the second year, students are expected to have taken a written qualifying examination, according to similar requirements of the EEOB Evolutionary Biology PhD Track at UCR. The Written Exam is a review paper in the intended topic of the dissertation; details of the structure of the exam are provided during the Fall quarter of the year in which the exam is to be taken. The written exam is evaluated by an ad hoc committee of faculty in the JDPEB graduate program. The committee will have a minimum of 4 faculty, at least 2 from UCR EEOB and 2 from SDSU EB.
Upon passing the written examination, the student (in consultation with their SDSU and UCR co-advisors) selects an Oral Examination Committee. The student then writes a detailed research proposal and schedules an oral examination. The Oral Exam typically occurs in the Fall term of the student’s third year.
