Overview
Columbia University's E3B Program Mission is to Educate a New Generation of Scientists and Practitioners
In addition to undergraduate and postbaccalaureate programs, the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B) offers master's and doctorate degrees from Columbia University in the intellectual setting of New York City. The program's mission is to educate the next generation of scientists and practitioners in ecology, evolution, and environmental biology methods and theories. Special features of the E3B programs emphasize a multidisciplinary perspective on the earth's declining biodiversity.
These features integrate knowledge from relevant disciplines in biology with that from relevant social sciences' fields. To foster a multidisciplinary program mission, the department is linked directly to more than seventy educators who are outside the central department faculty, so faculty members who teach, mentor, or train students may be from another department of Columbia University.
These faculty members might also be from a partner institution of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) consortium, a group of five renowned scientific institutions in greater New York City. CERC includes Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Wildlife Trust. Through collaborations within the university and CERC, students and faculty are closely tied to a full scope of scientific, academic, and intellectual resources in the New York City area.
Graduates of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program Are Prepared to Plan Environmental Policy
The Postbaccalaureate Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology was created for graduates who want to receive training in environmental biology or a related discipline, even though they did not receive an undergraduate degree in the field. The graduate curriculum develops abilities in the core sciences associated with environmental biology.
The Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology provides an extensive education so participants can define, understand, and conserve the biological diversity of Earth. Students gain the knowledge and skills to conduct ecological, behavioral, systematic, and molecular research in evolutionary biology. They also are prepared to plan and execute environmental policy. Graduates of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program realize professional goals with academic careers as researchers and teachers or as organizational leaders.
The E3B programs are based on the concept that the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, and environmental biology comprise a subdivision of the biological sciences with its own set of intellectual foci, theoretical foundations, scales of analysis, and methodologies. The graduate programs of E3B involve expansive investigations into evolutionary, genetic, and ecological relationships. The E3B academic staff advise and train students in the areas of plant and animal systematics, evolutionary and population genetics, demography and population biology, and behavioral and community ecology. They also teach and conduct research in the fields of epidemiology, ethnobiology, public health, and environmental policy.
Graduate Students Earning an M.A. in Conservation Biology May Tailor Studies to Career Tracks
The M.A. in conservation biology program focuses on the biological sciences, while incorporating studies in environmental policy and economics concepts. Graduate students working toward an M.A. in conservation biology can customize their education with academic, professional, or educational career tracks. This interdisciplinary approach to conservation biology extends students' future career options. After receiving an M.A. in conservation biology, individuals may wish to enter a Ph.D. program. They also may begin professions as researchers, teachers, or leaders in organizations established to foster conservation. In addition to selecting from three tracks, students may choose a thesis-based or course-based two-year program.
For almost ten years, Columbia has had a Ph.D. program in evolutionary primatology. Facets of the program are conducted with the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), which comprises the City University of New York, Columbia University, New York University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. This consortium delivers multi-institutional graduate training for candidates that focuses on each aspect of the behavioral, morphological, and evolutionary biology of primates. Coursework is integrated across NYCEP institutions. When students begin advanced coursework, they receive specialized training in one or more of the evolutionary primatology subdivisions. Three research internships are required, and Ph.D. students also contribute as teaching assistants.
