Students may apply for entry into the graduate program at any time during the year. Decisions regarding program admission are made monthly, as application files are completed; however decisions regarding Departmental Graduate Research Assistantships are made twice annually, in April and November for funding beginning July 1 and January 1, respectively. In order to fairly consider all applicants for assistantships, 1 March and 1 October have been established as deadline dates. If your file is not complete by these dates it will be held and not be considered for a Departmental Graduate Research Assistant until the next funding period.

The Plant Pathology Department offers a wide range of research opportunities in both basic and applied topics. Our graduate programs are designed around your own research, extension, and career goals. Opportunities for research at both the M.S. and Ph.D. levels include: molecular plant pathology, fungal molecular genetics, phytobacteriology, nematology, virology, epidemiology, biocontrol, disease resistance and plant disease. Opportunities also exist for inter-disciplinary programs in biotechnology, plant breeding, microclimatology, plant stress, pest management, and international agriculture. A more complete description of the research activity of the department is provided at the end of this message. The department has state of the art facilities and instrumentation to support research interests ranging from the most applied to the most basic. Laboratory based research is conducted in Plant Sciences Hall with ancillary greenhouses, growth chambers and small plots available, as needed. Field research problems may be carried out with faculty in Lincoln or the Research and Extension Centers at North Platte and Scottsbluff.

For graduate programs, the Department of Plant Pathology is part of the School of Biological Sciences and our graduate degrees are granted through the School. Application forms for admission to the department will be sent upon request., or application for graduate studies may be made on-line at the following address: http://www.unl.edu/gradstud/. If you prefer not to apply on-line, please send a request for application documents to be mailed to you and include your complete mailing address. Send requests to :

Amit Mitra
Professor
University of Nebraska
Department of Plant Pathology
406M PS
Lincoln, NE 68583-0722

All students are required to take the Graduate Record Exam (aptitude and advanced portion, usually biology) at their own expense before being accepted by the department. In addition, transcripts of Colleges/Universities attended, reference letters and a statement, not exceeding one type written page, of your long-term professional goals will be needed. A TOEFL exam score for students whose native language is not English is also required (550 minimum).

We are a medium-sized department of 16 faculty who are highly interactive and compatible. Our graduates are competitive in the scientific arena and are sought for positions in academe, government and the private sector. We are proud of our graduate program and hope the foregoing comments concerning our department and the University will help you reach a decision to apply to the University of Nebraska for graduate work.

If you are particularly interested in working with a specific faculty member you may wish to contact him/her directly, or you may be contacted by individual faculty who are interested in having you as a graduate student. The establishment of this dialogue is appropriate and encouraged.

Plant Pathology Faculty Research Programs

Current Graduate Students and Post-doctoral research associates