Research Option

The Research Option in the Agroecology Program provides students the opportunity to obtain experience in the scholarship of original research, culminating in the writing of a thesis, and prepare for Ph.D. work in a field related to agroecology. Research topics addressed by students in this option will range from institutional constraints on options available to farmers to biological interactions of pests and cultivated plants and animals. The research programs will be based in the traditional disciplines of the academy, but specific problem framing and student training strongly shaped by the interdisciplinarity of the Agroecology program.

The Research Option is similar to most MSc degrees in that the duration of an individual's program is to some extent dependent on the vicissitudes of original research. We anticipate that many of the students in this option will be financially supported by faculty members from research grant funds.

Academic Requirements

Minimum coursework requirements include the 10 credits of core curriculum listed earlier, an additional 12 credits of cross-training electives, and 12 thesis and research credits for a total of 34 credits. In addition to these 22 credits of graduate courses the Thesis Committee may require additional coursework as background for the specific research problem selected by the student.

As early as possible in the graduate program, each Research Option student, in consultation with his or her advisor(s), should begin to identify a research problem of mutual interest to the student and faculty members. An approved abstract of the thesis research project, endorsed by all Thesis Committee members, must be submitted to the Agroecology program before beginning the second semester of full-time study.