New York University
Department of Biology
New York, NY
Overview
New York University was established in 1831. This institution was intended to educate not only lawyers, doctors, and clergymen but also those who hoped to become "merchants, mechanics, farmers, and civil engineers with equal privileges and equal advantages." The University's enrollment has grown from 100 students in 1853 to approximately 48,000. NYU's fourteen colleges and schools are located at five major centers in Manhattan including the NYU Medical Center. The Institute of Environmental Medicine at Sterling Forest is located near Tuxedo, New York. The Department of Biology at present has about 70 doctoral students and 100 master's students. Students at the University and in the Department of Biology come from throughout the United States and many other countries.
The Community
New York University is an integral part of New York City - the business, cultural, artistic, and financial center of the nation. The city's extraordinary resources enrich both the academic programs and the experience of studying at New York University, just as the resources of the University contribute to the life and work of the city. As a major scientific center, New York City has numerous research institutions that provide additional opportunities for NYU students for professional interaction, growth, and development.
Programs of Study and Degree Requirements
The Department of Biology has two programs of graduate study, one leading to the Ph.D. degree, the other to the M.S. degree. The Ph.D., which is open to full-time students only, offers programs in neural sciences and physiology, molecular biology and biochemistry, cell and developmental biology, immunology, genetics, plant developmental and molecular biology, virology, microbiology, and population and evolutionary biology. A specialization in plant resources is offered as a Ph.D. track in collaboration with the New York Botanical Garden.
Students are required to complete 72 graduate credits. Following are courses that are strongly recommended: Cell Biology, Biochemistry I and II, Statistics in Biology, and, beginning in their second year, the Graduate Student Seminar where students discuss the results of their research or a timely and significant research finding from their area of interest. The choice of an advisor - usually a full-time faculty member of the department -- is made by mutual consent after the student has successfully completed three lab rotations. Students agree to undertake and complete in a timely fashion a substantive original research project, suitable for presentation as a doctoral thesis and for publication in the scientific literature. Throughout the program emphasis is placed on preparation for the profession, with a focus on rigorous research training; development of analytic, interpretive, and communications skills; and knowledge of latest developments in the field.
Facilities and Resources
The department currently occupies six contiguous floors in the University's Main Building complex at Washington Square. The laboratories are fully equipped for conducting contemporary biological research, including an electron microscope facility, a tissue-culture facility, a peptide sequencing facility, macromolecular synthesis instruments, cell sorting and fluorescence analysis equipment, and a computerized morphometric system.
In cooperation with the Institute of Environmental Medicine, facilities for study in environmental biology are available at Sterling Forest, a research park northwest of New York City. Students interested in a collaborative major in biology and in the Institute of Environmental Medicine should contact Professor Suse Broyde in the Department of Biology.
Expenses and Aid
Costs
Tuition is $990 per point.
Financial Aid
Support is available to all doctoral students who meet the financial aid application deadlines and to some qualified M.S. students. Graduate teaching assistantships provide stipends plus remission of tuition for 24 points. In addition, a limited number of University scholarships, providing stipends and tuition remission, are available. There are some research assistantships available, usually awarded only to advanced students.
Housing
University residential facilities are available for graduate students; Housing applications may be obtained from the Graduate School of Arts and Science, Office of Graduate Enrollment Services. Additional off-campus housing is available locally, throughout the city and readily accessible suburbs.
How to Apply
Admission to the Graduate School of Arts and Science and to the Department of Biology is offered to applicants with the bachelor's degree (or equivalent international credentials) who show promise of superior scholarly achievement and who have the recommendations of faculty and others qualified to evaluate academic ability, interest, and potential. The Graduate Record Examinations are required for application to the Ph.D. program; although not a requirement, they are also strongly recommended for applicants to the M.S. program. Applicants are considered regardless of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. However, the ability to understand and use spoken and written English is mandatory for all international students seeking admission to the graduate programs of the department.
Who to Contact
Office of Graduate Enrollment Services
Graduate School of Arts and Science
New York University
New York, New York 10276-0907
Tel: (212) 998-8050
E-mail: gsas.admissions@nyu.edu
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/application
Director of Graduate Studies
1009 Main Building
Department of Biology
Graduate School of Arts and Science
New York University
Washington Square
New York, New York 10003
212 998-8200
biology@nyu.edu
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/bio/
The Faculty
C. Aoki, Ph.D., Rockefeller 1985. Cellular basis of cortical plasticity. Examination of neuroanatomical substrates for glutamatergic, catecholaminergic, and cholinergic modulation of visual and prefrontal neural function using electron microscopic immunocytochemical methods; experience-dependent phosphorylation of cytoskeletal proteins and receptors using biochemical methods.
E. C. Azmitia, Ph.D., Rockefeller, 1973. Molecular basis of neuroplasticity; serotonin; S-100(; 5-HT-1A receptor; trophic and toxic factors in aged and Alzheimer's brains; tissue culture of primary neurons; neuropathology of drugs of abuse; fetal brain transplants; microsurgical techniques; multidisciplinary neurobiological research.
P. N. Benfey, Ph.D., Harvard, 1986. Plant development; a molecular-genetic analysis of root development in Arabidopsis.
R. Borowsky, Ph.D., Yale, 1969. Population genetics; genetics and evolution of eye loss in cave fishes.
S. Broyde, Ph.D., Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, 1963. Nucleic acid structure, particularly carcinogen-linked DNA adducts investigated by computer modeling with molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations.
E. Chang, Ph.D., SUNY Buffalo, 1989. Molecular and genetic studies of signal transduction mediated by ras-like G proteins in S. pombe.
C. Coruzzi, Ph.D., New York University, 1979. Plant molecular biology; molecular genetics of amino acids biosynthesis and signal transduction in Arabidopsis.
D. H. A. Fitch, Ph.D., University of Connecticut, 1986. Evolution of development, molecular evolution, systematics, and taxonomy of rhabditid nematodes; molecular and developmental genetics of morphology in the tail tip of Caenorhadbitis elegans.
P. Furmanski, Ph.D., Temple University, 1969. Cancer cell biology; regulatory and immunologic effects of interleukins; development and use of monoclonal antibodies against tumor-associated antigens; molecular and physiologic studies of lactoferrin.
S. J. Gould, Ph.D., Columbia, 1967. Evolutionary theory and the fossil record; history of evolutionary thought; the structure of Darwinian theory; evolution and variation in recent and fossil land snails of the genus Cerion.
T. C. Holmes, Ph.D., MIT, 1993. Signal transduction; neurobiology; structure-function studies of ion channels; ion channel modulation by phosphrylation; tyrosine kinase regulation; design of peptide-based biomaterials incorporating biologically active motifs.
E. J. A. Hubbard, Ph.D., Columbia, 1993. Developmental genetics; genetic and molecular analysis of gonadogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans.
M. P. Kambysellis, Ph.D., Texas, 1967. Developmental genetics of insects; regulation of vitellogenin gene expression; evolution of the vitellogenin genes in the Hawaiian Drosophila species; adaptive radiations in the Hawaiian Drosophilidae.
M. R. Rampino, Ph.D., Columbia, 1978. Earth and environmental sciences; geological and biological evolution of the earth; causes of mass extinctions of life; causes of climatic change.
C. S. Reiss, Ph.D., Mt. Sinai, 1978. Immunology; genetic control of the immune response; viral pathogenesis and antiviral immunity; cytokines in innate and specific responses; neuropathology of virus infection; nitric oxide and oxidative stress in infections; ultrastructural and morphological investigations of blood brain barrier changes.
C. Rushlow, Ph.D., University of Connecticut, 1983. Molecular mechanisms that underlie early development and tissue differentiation using Drosophila as a model system.
D. H. Sanes, Ph.D., Princeton, 1984. Auditory development and function; sound-evoked and in vitro electrophysiology of binaural processing; plasticity of inhibitory synapses and dendrite shape; organotypic culture of auditory brain stern.
D. A. Scicchitano, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State, 1986. Interactions of chemicals and physical agents with DNA; transcription elongation on past side-specifically modified bases.
W. N. Scott, M.D., University of Louisville, 1960. Mechanism of action of steroid and peptide hormones in regulating the transport of ions and water; isolation and characterization of transport-related proteins.
R. M. Shapley, Ph.D., Rockefeller 1970. Neurophysiology of vision; regulation of sensitivity to brightness and color; spatial summation and dynamics of visual neurons in the retina and visual cortex; visual spatial and temporal filtering and hyperacuity.
S. J. Small, Ph.D., University of Cincinnati, 1988. Genetic and transcriptional control of pattern formation during early development of Drosophila.
G. Stotzky, Ph.D., Ohio State, 1956. Microbial ecology (influence of physicochemical/biogeochemical factors); ecotoxicology; cell surfaces in cell ecology; behavior, and development, fate, gene transfer, and affects of genetically engineered microbes in nature; insecticidal toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis in soil.
D. Tranchina, Ph.D., Rockefeller, 1981. Neurophysiology and biophysics of vision; intracellular and extracellular recording from retinal neurons; neural mechanisms underlying visual perception; mathematical modeling of information processing in the visual system.
T. Volk, Ph.D., New York, 1984. Role of life in global biogeochemical cycles; crop modeling for advanced life support.
Departmental Associates
V. Albert, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1992. New York Botanical Garden. Plants systematics and evolution.
M. Balick, Ph.D., Harvard, 1980. New York Botanical Garden. Economic botany.
B. Boom, Ph.D., City University of New York, 1983. New York Botanical Garden. Systematics and economic botany.
R. M. Burger, Ph.D., Princeton, 1969. Public Health Research Institute. Molecular biology.
D. Daly, Ph.D., CUNY, 1987. New York Botanical Garden. Systematics and economic botany.
L. A. Day, Ph.D., Yale, 1963. Public Health Research Institute. Developmental and structural biology.
R. DeSalle, Ph.D., Washington University, 1984. American Museum of Natural History. Entomology.
K. A. Drlica, Ph.D., University of California Berkeley, 1971. Public Health Research Institute. Molecular biology.
D. Dubnau, Ph.D., Columbia 1961. Public Health Research Institute. Microbiology.
P. B. Fisher, Ph.D., Rutgers, 1974. Columbia. Oncogenes; suppressors and cancer cell biology.
A.S. Huang, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1966. Caltech. Senior counselor for external relations.
D. Lentz, Ph.D., University of Alabama, 1984. New York Botanical Garden. Ethnobotany.
G. Macino, Ph.D., University of Rome, 1986. University of Rome. Molecular genetics of gene expression.
L. Mindich, Ph.D., Rockefeller 1962. Public Health Research Institute. Microbiology.
R. P. Novick, MD, New York University School of Medicine, 1959. New York University. Plasmid biology.
C.Padoch, Ph.D., Columbia, 1978. New York Botanical Garden. Agricultural and agroforestry systems.
W. Schuster, Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1989. Black Rock Forest Consortium. Ecological genetics.
I.Smith, Ph.D., Columbia, 1961. Public Health Research Institute. Microbiology D. Stevenson, Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1975. New York Botanical Garden. Botany and phyllogenetic systematics.
P. P. Tolias, Ph.D., McGill University, 1987. Public Health Research Institute. Molecular biology.
T. Tully, Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1981. Cold Spring Harbor. Genetic determinants of behavior.
W. C. Wheeler, Ph.D., Harvard, 1988. American Museum of Natural History. Molecular evolution; invertebrate zoology.
P. Whitaker-Azmita, Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1979. SUNY at Stony Brook. Drugs and the brain.
E. B. Ziff, Ph.D., Princeton, 1969. New York University School of Medicine. Mechanisms of growth control and gene regulation in animal cells and their DNA viruses.