Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (BEES)

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Abstract

The Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics Program (BEES) is an interdepartmental graduate program at the University of Maryland, College Park that offers study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy or Master of Science degrees. Training in the program emphasizes fundamental and applied research in the areas of behavior, ecology, evolution, systematics and related disciplines. Although the BEES Program is administered from the College of Life Sciences, it is truly multidisciplinary, with more than 50 distinguished graduate faculty from ten departments in five colleges at the University of Maryland, as well as more than a dozen outstanding adjunct faculty from several nearby research institutions. Together these individuals comprise one of the largest groups of its kind in the country and have expertise in behavioral ecology, neuroethology, physiological ecology, community ecology, population ecology, evolutionary ecology, evolutionary development, quantitative genetics, population genetics, molecular evolution, human evolution, systematics, genomics and bioinformatics. The goals of the program are to provide access to world-class research facilities, facilitate communication and collaboration among faculty and students, and provide an incomparable environment for training the next generation of outstanding scientists.

Admissions Information

Admission to graduate study in the Program in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (BEES) is competitive and requires the following:

  1. A baccalaureate degree from a recognized undergraduate institution.
  2. Completion of the Graduate Record Examination, including the subject test in biology.
  3. Commitment by one or more graduate faculty to serve as a faculty advisor. (The student is free to change advisors if it becomes appropriate to do so, but every student must have a faculty advisor before admission is granted. Students working with adjunct faculty must also have a graduate faculty co-advisor.)
Applicants are also expected to have completed at least one year of course work in calculus, physics, general chemistry, organic chemistry and biology. These course requirements can be waived by the BEES program director if recommended by the prospective student's faculty advisor and approved by the Graduate Admissions Committee.


Application Deadlines

 

Fall

Spring
Domestic Applicants:
U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents

Domestic Applicant Deadlines


Applications must be received by December 10 (December 1 preferred) .


This program does not accept applications for this semester.

 


International Applicants:
Applicants from Outside the U.S. or U.S. Citizens / Permanent Residents with Non-U.S. Credentials

IMPORTANT:   International Applicants and U.S. Applicants with Non-U.S. Credentials must follow the domestic deadlines above if they are earlier than the deadlines listed below.   

Applicants seeking admission under F (Student) or J (Exchange Visitor) visas

February 1
If Domestic Deadline is after Feb. 1

June 1
If Domestic Deadline is after Jun. 1

Applicants seeking admission under A, E, G, H, I, and L visas and immigrants

May 1
If Domestic Deadline is after May 1

October 1
If Domestic Deadline is after Jun. 1

U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents with foreign credentials

May 15
If Domestic Deadline is after May 15

October 31
If Domestic Deadline is after Oct.31
 

Application Requirements

Applications should consist of the following:

  1. University of Maryland application for graduate studies
  2. Transcripts of all previous college work
  3. Statement of purpose and professional objectives
  4. Three letters of recommendation from persons competent to judge the applicant's abilities and aptitude for graduate work
  5. Scores of the Graduate Record Examination General Aptitude Test
  6. Scores of the Graduate Record Examination for the Advanced Biology Test
  7. For international students, a score of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Test of Spoken English (TSE)
  8. Applicants are encouraged to contact faculty to support their application
Students currently enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Maryland can apply to transfer into the BEES program by having application materials forwarded to the BEES program office by the deadlines listed above.

Degree Requirements

Master of Science (M.S.)

The BEES master's degree program enables a student to engage in advanced study and to undertake a research project with supervision. The degree can lead to continuation of graduate study for the Ph.D. in the same or a related area. A minimum of 30 cr edits is required with 24 credits of coursework and 6 credits of graduate research (799). Of the 24 credits, 12 must be at the 600 level (restricted to graduate students) or higher and include:

  1. An approved statistics course (two semesters are recommended).
  2. Four courses from the list of *approved BEES courses (see course list below for a list of approved courses)
  3. Participation in at least two graduate seminars excluding BEES 608A, CONS 608A, and lab meetings.
Upon completion of the research project and all required coursework, an oral defense of a written thesis will be administered according to Graduate School regulations by a Research Advisory Committee comprised of the research advisor and two additional faculty.

*COURSES SATISFYING CORE BEES AREAS:

Approved Statistics Courses:

  1. BIOM 601 Biostatistics I (4 credits)
  2. BIOM 602 Biostatistics II (4 credits)
  3. BIOM 603 Biostatistics III (4 credits)
  4. BIOM 621 Applied Multivariate Statistics (3 credits)
Approved Behavior Courses:
  1. BIOL 665 Behavioral Ecology (4 credits)
  2. BIOL 728D Animal Communication (3 credits)
  3. BIOL 767 Behavioral Endocrinology (3 credits)
Approved Ecology Courses:
  1. ENTM 612 Insect Ecology (3 credits)
  2. BIOL 708T Theoretical Ecology (4 credits)
  3. BIOL 662 Concepts in Animal Ecology (4 credits)
  4. BIOL 760 Plant Population Biology (3 credits)
  5. BIOL 663 Ecology of Marine Communities (4 credits)
  6. MEES 614 Landscape Ecology (4 credits)
Approved Evolution Courses:
  1. ENTM 623 Insect Evolutionary Biology (3 credits)
  2. BIOL 670 Concepts in Evolution (3 credits)
  3. BIOL 671 Molecular Evolution (3 credits)
  4. BIOL 708E Evolutionary Genetics (3 credits)
Approved Systematic Courses:
  1. ENTM 622 Principles of Systematic Entomology (3 credits)
  2. CBMG 688H Comparative Bioinfomatics (3 credits)
  3. CBMG 688O Molecular Systematics (3 credits)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

The BEES doctoral degree program is intended to be flexible yet provide sufficiently rigorous training to allow students to pursue independent and substantive basic research. Students are encouraged to choose from the many training opportunities available within the program and to design a course of study that will fit their specific educational objectives. During the first semester in residence, all students will meet with a Program Advisory Committee to develop a course plan. This committee will consist of the research advisor, two additional participating members of the program, and a senior graduate student. The course plan will satisfy the following requirements:

  1. At least four courses from the list of *approved BEES courses, for a total of 12 or more credits (see course list under M.S. Degree section above for a list of approved courses)
  2. Evidence of 600 (restricted to graduate students) or higher level course work in three of the following four areas: Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (these courses may be counted as part of the four required BEES courses)
  3. A 600 or higher level course in statistics (two semesters are recommended).
  4. Participation in at least four graduate seminars excluding BEES 608A, CONS 608A, and lab meetings.
Program course requirements may be waived by the Director upon recommendation of the Program Advisory Committee if viewed as warranted by previous training.

By the end of the second year, the student must submit for approval by the Director the names of four faculty (with at least three from within the program) who, together with the research advisor, will serve as the Research Advisory Committee. No more than two members of the Research Advisory Committee may be from institutions outside the University of Maryland. The advisor will have primary responsibility to guide the student through the remainder of his or her graduate work and serve as the chair of this committee.

The Research Advisory Committee will conduct a qualifying examination that must be completed satisfactorily before a student is admitted to candidacy. The examination must be attempted by the end of the students fifth semester in the program. The ability to do independent research and qualify for candidacy will be evaluated by the students performance in answering general questions in the BEES area and his or her ability to defend an original dissertation proposal that outlines significant research that advances a conceptual issue in ecology or evolutionary biology.

Facilities and Special Resources

State-of-the-art facilities, unparalleled collections of living and preserved organisms, and access to temperate and tropical field sites involving diverse habitats and a wide range of organisms are available to BEES students to conduct research. Specialized equipment on campus available for student use include a laboratory for evolutionary molecular sequence analysis, scanning, transmission and confocal microscopes, gas source stable isotope mass spectrophotometer, bioacoustic lab, flume lab, GIS lab, and high-speed network access to a wide range of desktop and super-computing facilities. Greenhouses for research are available. Students can also acquire training and conduct research at several sites off campus, including the following:

  1. The Smithsonian Institution manages several research facilities utilized by BEES students. The National Zoological Park includes both the National Zoo in northeast Washington, D.C., and the Conservation and Research Center, located 65 km west of campus in Front Royal, Virginia. The National Zoo is a 163-acre public park with more than 500 species of vertebrate and invertebrate animals on and off exhibit available for research by BEES students. Over 20% of the animals at the National Zoo are threatened with extinction, and many cannot be studied elsewhere. Facilities maintained at the zoo include climate-controlled holding rooms and fully equipped laboratories for bioacoustics, molecular genetics, nutrition and energetics. The Conservation and Research Center includes 1,600 acres in large paddocks for propagation and research on 35 species of endangered birds and mammals, and 1,600 acres in native forest with a permanent trapping grid for small mammals. Facilities include labs for endocrinology and GIS, and a dormitory for students.
  2. The Laboratory of Molecular Systematics is a research unit of the National Museum of Natural History located 35 km from campus in Suitland, Maryland. The lab is fully equipped for molecular genetic studies including automated and manual DNA sequencing, microsatellite development and typing, RFLP, AFLP and RAPD analysis. The unit has specialized facilities for work with ancient DNA and houses an important genetic resource collection, with more than 12,000 cryopreserved plant and animal samples. Genetic data analysis is a particular strength. An array of high-speed Unix platforms provide computational power for both phylogenetic and population genetic studies.
  3. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 40 km east of campus, is a 1000 ha research site encompassing 20 km of shoreline on the Rhode River and a landscape of coastal plain forests, agricultural fields, wetlands and estuary connected to the Chesapeake Bay. Facilities include instrumentation for analytical chemistry, dock and small boat fleet, plankton culturing facility, greenhouse, 50 m forest instrument tower, CO2 and trace gas field labs, GIS lab, electronics and machine shops, and a dormitory for students. Long-term data provide 20- to 30-year records of population fluctuations for many species at the site.
  4. Students interested in phylogenetics, genomics and bioinfor-matics can utilize resources and expertise available at several sites, including labs at the Center for Advanced Research and Biotechnology (CARB) in Rockville, Maryland, and at the Center for Biosystems Research (CBR), which is housed on the College Park campus. These research centers are members of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. Additional expertise in these areas can be found at the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, which is located in Frederick, Maryland, and at the Honeybee Genomics Lab at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, which is located a few miles north of campus.
  5. The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the adjacent Patuxent Wildlife Refuge and Research Center provide access to valuable habitat and animals that can be studied by BEES students. These two centers together administer thousands of acres of unspoiled, managed and cultivated lands for research purposes. Other temperate field sites utilized by BEES faculty and students include the Mountain Lake Biological Station in Mountain Lake, Virginia, and the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Gothic, Colorado.
  6. Many BEES faculty and students also conduct research in tropical regions. Some faculty have affiliations with independent laboratories or maintain their own study sites in various parts of the world, including Central and South America, Asia, Australia and New Guinea. Others utilize field stations run by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) in Costa Rica or the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama. Because the University of Maryland is a member of the OTS consortium, BEES students have priority consideration for enrollment in OTS courses in tropical biology.
  7. BEES students have access to one of the most comprehensive collections of books and journals in the world. On campus, the University of Maryland Library system maintains extensive bioscience holdings and is rapidly expanding access to online journals (now exceeding 3,000 titles) and databases. Three miles north of campus is the National Agricultural Library, whose holdings are available to all University of Maryland students. Within 6 miles of campus and connected by the convenient Metro system, students can access the collections of the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine and the Smithsonian Institution Library.

Financial Assistance

The program offers teaching assistantships, research assistantships and fellowships to admitted students on a competitive basis. After the first year, financial support becomes the responsibility of the department in which the advisor resides. Sources of fellowship support include:

  1. Graduate Fellowship Office
  2. Human Origins - NSF-IGERT Training Grant (HEBDP)
  3. Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology (MCSE)
  4. Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing Traing Grant(CEBH)
  5. Smithsonian Institution
  6. National Science Foundation

Contact Information

For specific information regarding the program, admission procedures, financial support and other details, contact:

BEES Program Coordinator
2239 Biology-Psychology Building
MD  20742
Telephone: (301)405-4552
Fax: (301)314-9358
beesoffice@umd.edu

http://www.bees.umd.edu

Courses: BIOL BEES BIOM ENTM CBMG MEES

Related Programs and Campus Units

Biology
Animal Sciences
Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics
Anthropology
Computer Science
Entomology
Biological Resources Engineering
Geology
Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences
Molecular and Cell Biology
Natural Resource Sciences
Philosophy
Psychology

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