Ohio University
Biological Sciences
Athens, Ohio
Overview
Founded in 1804, Ohio University is the oldest institution of higher education in the old Northwest Territory. It is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Over the past two decades, a major emphasis on excellence in research has brought the University recognition by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a "Research University II."
The enrollment on the Athens campus is 19,000, including a graduate enrollment of 2,600, of whom 80 are enrolled in the Biological Sciences Graduate Program. In the current group of students, 40 percent are women, 39 percent are international, and 3 percent are part-time.
Sixty percent of the graduates of the master's program have continued their education in graduate or medical school, and 40 percent have sought employment. All doctoral graduates in the last five years have obtained employment in their area within one year of completing their doctoral degrees. Thirty-two percent of these doctoral graduates obtained employment in industry, and 68 percent are employed in academic positions.
The Community
Ohio University is located in Athens, which has a population of 21,000. Athens is located 75 miles southeast of Columbus. The community and University offer a broad range of cultural opportunities, including art, dance, music, and theater. The rural setting in the scenic Appalachian foothills offers many outdoor recreational activities, including four attractive state parks within a short drive.
Program of Study and Degree Requirements
The graduate program offers master's and doctoral degrees in biological sciences and microbiology. Graduate education is conducted in five research focus groups. The cell biology and physiology group employs molecular, cellular, and systems approaches to study animal and plant function. The ecology and evolutionary biology group integrates research on ecology, functional morphology, phylogeny, genetics, and life history of natural populations and model organisms to study evolutionary patterns, processes, and mechanisms. The exercise physiology and muscle biology group focuses on effects of exercise, nutrition, gender, and aging on human performance, muscle histology, muscle physiology, and reproductive endocrinology. The microbiology group applies molecular biological techniques to theoretical and practical problems in bacteriology, virology, parasitology, and immunology. The neurobiology group emphasizes systems and computational neurobiology.
Master's students complete 45 quarter system credit hours for the degree, including a minimum of 30 hours of formal courses, including seminars. They perform one quarter of supervised teaching, carry out original research, and write a thesis, which entails thesis proposal and thesis defense examinations. Students normally complete the program in 2.25 years. A nonthesis master's degree is offered for elementary or secondary school teachers. Doctoral students complete 135 hours of graduate work; of these, 45 are in formal courses or seminars. They also complete at least two quarters of supervised teaching, a candidacy examination by their ninth quarter, and a dissertation proposal examination by their thirteenth quarter. Average time for completion of the doctoral degree is 5.5 years.
Facilities and Resources
In addition to standard laboratory equipment used in biological laboratories, special research equipment available to graduate students includes an electron microscopy facility; a quantitative microscopy and imaging facility, which houses a laser scanning confocal microscope with Silicon Graphics Indigo workstations and a Neurolucida 3D reconstruction and analysis system; exercise physiology facilities with metabolic carts, a Biodex isokinetic dynamometer, and an echocardiograph; a hybridoma facility; and a 15,000-specimen vertebrate collection. Facilities for mass spectrophotometry; NMR; computer-assisted DNA, RNA, and protein sequence analysis; and housing for animals are also available on campus. Library holdings include 1.1 million volumes with approximately 1,000 periodicals on biological and biomedical science topics.
Expenses and Aid
Costs
In 2004-05, tuition and fees were $2265 per quarter for residents of Ohio and $5395 per quarter for nonresidents. Except for general and recreational fees ($486 per quarter), tuition and fees are waived for students awarded teaching or research assistantships or fellowships.
Housing
Unmarried students may live in graduate dormitory housing, which cost approximately $2715 per quarter for room and board for 2004-05. Married students may live in one the University's apartment buildings, where monthly rents are approximately $700. Houses and apartments in the community are also available with one-bedroom apartments ranging from $350 to $650.
Financial Aid
Program students are supported by teaching or research assistantships or by fellowships. Teaching assistantship provide an annual stipend of $16,260 for master's students and $19,320 for doctoral students and a waiver of tuition and fees. The Department's Graduate Committee may, without solicitation and at their discretion, make additional awards in recognition of a student's academic excellence in the program. In addition, any student may apply for small Houk Awards for partial support of research expenses.
How to Apply
An undergraduate GPA of at least 3.2 is required for admission to the program. A TOEFL score of at least 620 is required for the admission of students whose native language is not English. All students must score in the fiftieth percentile or above on the General Test of the GRE.
An application form and a more extensive description of faculty interests may be obtained from the address below. Students must submit applications by January 15 for entrance in the following fall quarter. In addition to the application form, applicants must submit transcripts, GRE General Test scores, TOEFL scores (if the student's native language is not English), three letters of recommendation, a letter of research intent, and the names of three faculty members they would like to review their file.
Who to Contact
Graduate Studies
Department of Biological Sciences
Irvine Hall
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio 45701-2979
Telephone: 740-593-2334
E-mail: nilsen@ohiou.edu
http://www.biosci.ohiou.edu/grad
The Departments, Faculty and Major Research Interests
Cell Biology and Physiology
• Mark Berryman, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Molecular aspects of membrane-cytoskeletal attachments in epithelial cells.
• Mary Chamberlin, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Developmental changes in insect epithelial physiology; mitochondrial metabolism in ecotherms.
• Elizabeth Crockett, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Physiological/biochemical adaptations to varying or extreme physical environments.
• Frank Horodyski, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Hormonal control of insect development and metamorphosis.
• Sharon Inman, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Renal microcirculation and ischemia/reperfusion injury in kidney transplantation.
• Kelly Johnson, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Insect physiology; evolution of feeding specialization; chemical ecology.
• Richard E. Klabunde, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Cardiac and vascular function in septic shock.
• John Kopchick, Professor; Ph.D. Molecular mechanism(s) of growth hormone action.
• David T. Kurjiaka, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Role of gap junctions in regulating vascular function in hypertensives.
• Felicia V. Nowak, Associate Professor; Ph.D., M.D. Regulation and mechanism of action of neuropeptides in brain development and function.
• Robert Rakowski, Professor; Ph.D. Ion channels and electrogenic pumps.
• Allan Showalter, Professor; Ph.D. Molecular biology and biochemistry of plant cell wall proteins and halophytes.
• Soichi Tanda, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Genetics; molecular and developmental biology.
• Sarah Wyatt, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Developmental plant biology.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Harvey E. Ballard, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Plant systematics and evolution, especially of violets, worldwide.
• Audrone Biknevicius, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Biodynamics and biometrics of vertebrate feeding and locomotor systems.
• Kim Brown, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Ecosystem ecology and forest ecophysiology.
• Philip Cantino, Professor; Ph.D. Angiosperm systematics (specialty is Lamiaceae), phylogenetic analysis.
• James C. Cavender, Professor; Ph.D. Cellular slime molds; soil biology; alternative agriculture.
• R. Patrick Hassett, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Biological oceanographic/zooplankton ecology and physiology.
• Gene Mapes, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Paleobotany; paleoecologic and evolutionary relationships of early conifers.
• Royal H. Mapes, Professor; Ph.D. Systematics, paleobiology, paleoecology, and taxonomy of ancient cephalopods.
• Brian McCarthy, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Forest ecology, plant-animal interactions.
• Donald Miles, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Morphological and ecological correlates of locomotion; life history evolution in squamate reptiles.
• Molly R. Morris, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Behavioral ecology; sexual selection and evolution of communication in fishes.
• Steve Reilly, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Ecological and functional morphology, morphometrics, ontogeny, heterochrony, vertebrate metamorphosis, systematics.
• Willem Roosenberg, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Ectotherm life history evolution; ecology of environmental sex determination; conservation biology.
• Gar Rothwell, Professor; Ph.D. Organismal botany; plant paleontology; phylogeny of land plants.
• Irwin Ungar, Professor; Ph.D. Experimental ecology; ecology of plants in extreme environments.
• Morgan Vis-Chiasson, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Ecology and systematics of freshwater macroscopic algae.
• Matthew White, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Population and evolutionary genetics; biochemical systematics; conservation biology.
• Lawrence Witmer, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Craniofacial ontogeny, functional morphology, and paleontology of archosaurs.
Exercise Physiology and Muscle Biology
• Joseph Eastman, Professor; Ph.D. Evolutionary morphylogy of Antarctic fish.
• Robert Hikida, Professor; Ph.D. Adaptive and nucleocytoplasmic responses of human skeletal muscles to changes in activity.
• John Howell, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Skeletal muscle physiology at both the cellular and organ system levels.
• Anne Loucks, Professor; Ph.D. Effects of diet and exercise on endocrine regulation of the human reproductive system.
• Robert Staron, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Adaptation of skeletal muscle fibers in response to various workloads.
Microbiology
• Bonita Biegalke, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Molecular biology of herpes viruses; determinants of pathogenicity.
• Xiao-Zhuo Chen, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Molecular and cellular biology of cancer and cancer gene therapy.
• Peter Coschigano, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Molecular and genetic analysis of anaerobic biodegradation of toxic compounds.
• Kenneth Goodrum, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Cytokine responses to Group B Streptococci.
• Mario Grijalva, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Molecular diagnosis, immunology, and epidemiology of tropical diseases.
• Donald Holzschu, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Retroviruses; mechanisms of retroviral induction of cell proliferation and tumorigenesis.
• Calvin James, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Aspects of signal transduction pathways relevant to both viral and cellular gene regulation.
• William Romoser, Professor; Ph.D. Arbovirus pathogenesis in mosquitoes; mosquito metamorphosis and alimentary physiology.
• Edwin Rowland, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Immunobiology of Trypanosoma cruzi infection, including disease pathogenesis.
Neurobiology
• Robert Colvin, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Calcium transport across plasma membranes; neurobiology of aging.
• Ralph DiCaprio, Professor; Ph.D. Cellular neurophysiology; neuronal basis of behavior; organization and generation of rhythmic motor patterns.
• William Holmes, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Mathematical and computational models; long-term potentiation; dendritic spines.
• Scott Hooper, Associate Professor; Ph.D. Central and peripheral mechanisms underlying rhythmic motor pattern production.
• Douglas Kohn, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Posttranscriptional control of gene expression during brain development.
• Ellengene Peterson, Professor; Ph.D. Vestibular neurobiology; sensorimotor control of head movement.
• Michael Rowe, Professor; Ph.D. Image analysis and spatial sampling in the vertebrate retina; development and evolution of vision in vertebrates.