Committee on Evolutionary Biology

The Committee on Evolutionary Biology provides students with the opportunity for interdisciplinary study of all aspects of evolutionary biology. The committee consists of faculty members with primary appointments in departments in all four graduate divisions within the University and of associated faculty from institutions in the Chicago area, such as Argonne National Laboratory, the Brookfield Zoo, and the Field Museum of Natural History. The diversity of research interests represented by the collective expertise of the committee faculty contributes to its strong national and international reputation as a graduate training program.

Students in the committee have ready access to facilities at the associated institutions, including the more than 2,000 animals representing over 400 species at Brookfield Zoo, more than 17 million specimens in the Field Museum collections in botany, zoology, and paleontology, and libraries at the Field Museum and Brookfield Zoo. Various facilities for the study of molecular evolution at the level of proteins and DNA are available to committee students, as are several darkroom facilities and student computer centers that include commonly used programs for text processing and data analysis, and a complete library for phylogeny construction and analysis.
In the Chicago area, committee students also have used the rich resources available at Lincoln Park Zoo, the Shedd Aquarium, the Morton Arboretum, and the many parks and lands managed by the local county forest preserve and park districts.

The University of Chicago is a member of the Organization of Tropical Studies. Doctoral students in the committee have taken courses in tropical ecology and conducted research in Costa Rica through this affiliation. Recent evolutionary biology students have also conducted domestic research at a variety of field sites, including the Southwest Research Station of the American Museum of Natural History, Kellogg Biological Station, Friday Harbor, Rocky Mountain Biological Station, Highlands Biological Station, and the Indiana Dunes National Park. International research is conducted on every continent.

Program of Study

Most students in the Committee on Evolutionary Biology complete their Ph.D. program in about five years, though students entering with masters degrees may finish in slightly less time.
The first and second years consist largely of course work and individual reading and research courses, aiming toward successful completion of the preliminary examination and defense of a dissertation research proposal by the end of the second year of study.

First year. Entering students are expected to have received a broad undergraduate training in biology and a good background in related quantitative subjects, such as chemistry, statistics and calculus. Students who are admitted with gaps in these areas may be required to remedy their deficiencies by taking appropriate courses during their first two years in the graduate program. The committee maintains a student advisory committee, which meets three times a year with each of the first and second year students to advise them on courses available, arbitrate on which courses meet the committee’s course distribution requirements, and otherwise help students keep on track towards candidacy.

Second year. Second year students continue to meet with the student advisory committee until they identify their research area and form a committee and chair for their preliminary examination. The first part of the second year may be taken up mostly with course work, supplemented more heavily by reading and research courses.

Reading and research requirements. The committee requires all first and second year students to register for six courses (at least one course every quarter) with six different members of the committee faculty. These six courses may be in the form of an individual reading course (Evol 49600 or 49700), a research course/lab rotation (Evol 49900), or a regularly scheduled course. All Committee on Evolutionary Biology courses have been divided into six broad areas. Students must take a course in five of the six areas to fulfill this requirement. The most important goal is that the student acquire some breadth in evolutionary biology; this breadth and the interdisciplinary research it permits should be the distinguishing feature of students working in the committee.
Division of the Biological Sciences teaching assistant requirement program. During their tenure in the doctoral program, students are required to be teaching assistants in two approved courses.

Preliminary examination. The student must make an oral defense of his or her dissertation proposal, followed by an oral examination by a faculty committee on general issues in evolutionary biology. Students are expected to pass the preliminary examination by the spring quarter of their second year in the committee.

Prior to the preliminary examination, all students admitted to the Committee on Evolutionary Biology shall select an advisor, who will normally become the chair of the student’s preliminary examination committee. The committee for the preliminary examination will be formed by the chair of the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, in consultation with the student, when the student notifies the CEB chair in writing of her/his plans to take the examination.

Ph.D. dissertation. Upon successful completion of the preliminary examination and admission into candidacy for the Ph.D., students work on their dissertation projects in close consultation with the faculty advisor and dissertation committee. During a period of two to three years the student does primary original research, participates in seminars, discussion groups, and professional meetings and conferences, and completes the written Ph.D. dissertation.

The Ph.D. in evolutionary biology is awarded based upon the candidate’s having (1) submitted a written dissertation reporting results of the student’s original research in a form suitable for publication, which must be approved by the faculty advisor and dissertation committee; and, (2) successfully completed a final oral examination covering the student’s field of specialization.

Application for Admission

The committee trains doctoral students for research and teaching careers in evolutionary biology. The S.M. degree may be awarded in special cases, usually associated with graduate students in the Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science. Although graduate studies in evolutionary biology can be carried out in several different departments at the University, students whose research and career interests are interdisciplinary generally apply to the Committee on Evolutionary Biology for admission. If a student’s desired doctoral advisor does not have a primary appointment in the Division of the Biological Sciences of the University (e.g., the advisor is a member of the research staff at the Field Museum or Brookfield Zoo), then it is also recommended that the student apply to the Committee on Evolutionary Biology. It is important to emphasize that graduate students pursuing training in evolution, whether in the committee or in other departments at the University, routinely take courses, attend seminars and often travel to meetings together as a single community of scholars.

We strongly advise students considering application to the committee to begin preparation of their application early in the autumn quarter, so that all materials will arrive by the January deadline. The committee requires GRE General Test scores from all applicants, and strongly recommends submission of GRE subject test scores in biology. Foreign applicants from non-English speaking nations also must submit TOEFL scores with their application materials.

Interested students should write to the Administrative Director of Graduate Programs, Darwinian Sciences, 1025 East 57th Street—Culver Hall, Chicago, IL 60637, for the required University application materials and a brochure that describes the graduate program of the Committee on Evolutionary Biology and introduces the research interests of each faculty member. Students who have access to the World Wide Web can find further information about the committee at the departmental homepage, or e-mail the committee directly at: darwin@pondside.uchicago.edu.

This text was last revised on 8/29/2003.