The Ph.D. in Biology offers students rigorous advanced study of the Biological Sciences. Broad preparation is offered in major research areas in Biology through a variety of formal courses and advanced seminars. Students are encouraged to take courses in related sciences. Preparation for both research and teaching is important. The program encourages interdisciplinary research and coursework in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics. Special interdisciplinary programs in which faculty from the Biology Department participate include the Center for Biotechnology, Center for Computational Genetics and Genomics, the Institute for Computational Molecular Science, the Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine. Faculty members specialize in the areas of aquatic and terrestrial ecology, biochemistry, biophysics, cell biology, computational genomics, developmental biology, evolutionary and organismal biology, genetics, molecular biology, molecular evolution, neurobiology, and virology.
Evolutionary medicine is an inter-disciplinary field that examines contemporary human disease within the larger context of evolutionary history. Research in evolutionary medicine addresses questions of how mutation, genetic drift, natural selection, and population histories (migration and gene flow) may have shaped genetic variation that contributes to human biological variation and disease.