For Prospective Graduate Students

Admission to the Field of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) is a two-pronged process, in that an applicant must (1) have an identified major professor willing to sponsor them and (2) be among those accepted by the EEB admission committee. Because we guarantee five years of financial support (including summers!), EEB typically admits only about a dozen new students each year from among more than 100 applicants. It follows that individual professors usually take on at most one new graduate student each year, and that many highly qualified applicants are not admitted for lack of space. Those things said, our program offers outstanding opportunities for doctoral work; the faculty is diverse and supportive of our outstanding graduate students, library and research facilities are excellent, and Ithaca winters are conducive to scholarly contemplation. (from Professor Harry Greene’s page)

The professor-graduate student relationship is a unique one that should generate growth for both. Since I came to the Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University in 1994 I have only accepted students who study some aspect of bird biology, although in my previous life I supervised students who studied mammals, insects, and plants too, and I even made an excursion into applied entomology myself. If the thesis subject can entail some component of citizen science this can be mutually beneficial, but such a component is by no means necessary. Given that my interests are diverse almost any subject is possible. I enjoy interacting with "my" students, and I attempt to ask questions rather than to provide answers. I consider myself as some kind of safety net for the graduate students, with some Plan B in my pocket if all else fails.