Biology, MS

Program Coordinator: Xiaoping Pan (N-108E Howell Science Complex; 252-328-5443; panx@ecu.edu)

Thesis option requirements:

Students must complete a minimum of 30 s.h. of course work (15 s.h. must be at the 6000-7000 level), and a research-based thesis, comprehensive defense of a thesis proposal, seminar based on thesis research, thesis defense, and show competence in teaching. Up to 9 s.h. of graduate courses from other departments may be used to meet curriculum requirements upon approval by the department’s director of graduate studies.

1. Core - 15 s.h.

BIOL 6880 - Introduction to Research
BIOL 7000 - Thesis *
BIOL 7900 - Ecological Statistics or
BIOS 7021 - Biostatistics for Health Professionals I or
BIOS 7022 - Biostatistics for Health Professionals II
7 s.h. of electives

2. Concentration area - 15 s.h.

(Choose a minimum of 15 s.h. from one area.)

Cell biology:

Environmental and organismic biology:

Note:

*BIOL 7000 may be repeated for registration status, but only 6 s.h. may count toward graduation.

Non-thesis option requirements:

Students must complete a minimum of 38 s.h. of course work (19 s.h. must be at the 6000-7000 level), a final project consisting of a written scholarly review a topic of interest in biology, an oral defense of the final project, and show competence in teaching. Up to 12 s.h. of graduate courses from other departments may be used to meet curriculum requirements upon approval by the department’s director of graduate studies.

1. Core - 5 s.h.

BIOL 6880 - Introduction to Research
A course (3 s.h.) in statistics (e.g. BIOL 7900 , BIOS 7022 , MATH 5031 ), statistical inference (e.g. MATH 6802 ), or experimental design (e.g. MATH 6005 , BIOS 7501 ) as approved by the faculty advisor and director of graduate studies.

2. Electives - 33 s.h.

The non-thesis option electives will be tailored to the individual’s interests, career goals, and educational background in consultation with the student’s faculty advisor and the director of graduate studies. A maximum of 5 s.h. of directed research courses (BIOL 6504 , BIOL 6514 ) and /or internship (BIOL 6992 , BIOL 6993 ) may be applied toward meeting the electives requirement.

3. Comprehensive evaluation requirement

Each student will complete a written final project in collaboration with their faculty advisor and present an oral defense of their project in their third or fourth semester. The written project and its oral defense are used to evaluate the student’s knowledge and understanding of their special area of interest, general principles of biology, and their communication skills.
Each student will be required to assist in biology laboratory class instruction for 2 semesters as part of a demonstration of leadership qualities, communication skills, general knowledge and understanding of basic principles of biology, and pedagogical skills. Students will receive training in lab instruction by acting as an assistant to the lab instructor during their first semester, and serve as a lead lab instructor over a period of 7 weeks during their second semester. During this time they will be involved in a variety of aspects of biology lab instruction to include presenting the learning goals of specific labs, explaining the methodology needed to carry out the lab exercise(s), providing descriptions and conducting discussions on the biological principles upon which the labs are based, assisting the class members in the execution of the labs, and providing evaluations of their performance. Oversight and evaluation of assistance in lab instruction and in-class teaching reviews will be carried out by lab supervisory staff and faculty.