The Graduate Experience at KBS

The Kellogg Biological Station provides outstanding opportunities for students interested in graduate studies in ecology, evolutionary biology, and agricultural ecology. Excellent research facilities, field sites, and resident faculty provide an environment conducive to research. Our graduates have gone on to faculty positions at major research universities (e.g., Dartmouth, U. Florida, U. Texas), first-rate liberal arts colleges (e.g., Denison, Franklin & Marshall, Grinnell), and to be scientists at government agencies (e.g., USDA, Smithsonian) and NGO's. Interested students are encouraged to contact KBS faculty members directly, either via e-mail or phone, to discuss their future plans. Prospective students apply to MSU via the home department of their potential KBS faculty advisor (currently Crop and Soil Sciences, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Plant Biology, and Zoology). Students may also join MSU's Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior (EEBB).

Ph.D. students at KBS typically spend their first 1-2 academic years on MSU's main campus in East Lansing, where they take classes, participate in departmental seminars and informal discussion groups, and interact with fellow students in graduate programs.  During this time, many students also teach classes and are supported on departmental teaching assistantships. Summers are generally spent at KBS, taking field courses and initiating research. By their second year, Ph.D. students typically move to KBS full time to conduct their dissertation research, participate in seminars and discussion groups (e.g. Eminent Ecologist Series) and to intereact with resident and visiting scientists.

Funding

Graduate students are typically supported through teaching assistantships and fellowships while on campus, and through fellowships and research assistantships while at KBS. Students should disucss with their potential KBS faculty sponsors the various opportunities for support.  Currently, a grant from the National Science Foundation provides excellent support for up to eight KBS graduate students per year to work with science teachers in local area schools (grade school to high school) (K-12 partnership).