生物科学理学硕士

生物科学理学硕士提高了学生计划，进行，分析和报告原始研究的能力。课程工作增加了学生的科学准备并支持他们的研究。通过学生主要顾问的建议，我们努力选择符合个人需求和兴趣的课程。该学位可以为继续毕业或专业学习或在私营或公共部门中的职位做准备。提供论文和非论文选项，尽管最终文档采用不同的格式，但都需要一个原始研究项目。生物科学理学硕士（论文选修）需要33个小时的课程工作，包括在口试中准备和捍卫论文，并在部门研讨会上展示研究结果。
The Department of Biological Sciences offers a highly interactive master's program. Students move easily among disciplines within the department and interact with other programs and institutions. Graduate research is generally in one of two areas: cell and molecular biology, and systematics, evolution, and ecology. Students in the program often take advantage of other researchers, faculty, and facilities at GW and elsewhere in the Washington area. These include the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.<br><br>The MS program is thesis-only, allowing students to pursue research in the laboratory of an advisor identified at the time of admission.<br><br>A strong background in cell and molecular biology is essential for many competitive careers. Graduate students in this area conduct research on both well-studied model systems and non-model organisms, and often use comparative approaches. Common research themes among department faculty include cell signaling processes, and the genetic and cellular mechanisms governing virulence, behavior, immune responses, neurobiology, development, and the phenotypic expression of a variety of morphological traits. Students are trained in both experimental and comparative approaches and use a diverse array of modern research methods, ranging from precision imaging to gene editing to the assembly and analysis of genomes/proteomes/metabolomes.<br><br>Amid increasing concern about global change and biodiversity decline, expertise in systematics and ecology is more important than ever. GW's Systematics, Evolution, and Ecology (SEE) program is one of the few in the world specializing in the principles and methods of phylogenetic analysis and comparative biology, putting the university at the forefront of biodiversity studies. Departmental research in evolution and ecology spans a wide array of taxa and study systems, including both vertebrate (amphibians, reptiles, fishes) and invertebrate (social and non-social insects, arachnids, oysters) animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. In addition to systematics, students can join labs conducting research on behavioral, ecosystem, community, and population ecology as well as ecomorphology and biomechanics.<br><br>To complement their classroom education, students can get involved in ongoing field research at both terrestrial and aquatic field sites around the world. Recent graduate students have studied termites and wood decomposition in Australian rainforests, collected ants in Brazilian savannas, discovered new reptiles and amphibians in Sri Lanka, and unearthed rare dinosaur fossils in the Gobi Desert of China.<br><br>The department regularly supports graduate student attendance at graduate short courses offered around the US and abroad, including those available through our membership in the Organization for Tropical Studies as well as regularly offered short courses at Friday Harbor, Southwestern Research Station, and Woods Hole.