Students come here from different backgrounds, and with different strengths and interests. The intimacy of our program and the small number of formal degree requirements allow us to accomodate this breadth and meet the needs of each student. Diversity refers to the backgrounds and research interests of our students and faculty. Knowledge of biology is expanding at an exponential pace, and as it expands it presents exciting opportunities for ground-breaking work at the interface of subareas of biology, or between biology and other disciplines. Because of the diverse research interests of the Biology Division faculty, and the excellent resources to pursue interdisciplinary research, Caltech provides an outstanding environment for innovative research.
Quality refers to the excellence of our faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students.
Caltech's Biology faculty is composed of internationally-recognized leaders in biological research. Students and postdoctoral fellows who have demonstrated outstanding ability in research and scholarship come to Caltech to advance their education. Many of our students have gone on to become leaders in their fields all over the world. After a decade-long comprehensive survey of graduate programs in the United States, the National Research Council announced in 1995 that Caltech has the best Ph.D. training program in Cellular and Developmental Biology, and is within the top ten in the fields of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Molecular and General Genetics, and Neuroscience. During the first year, students are encouraged to sample the diversity of the research programs at Caltech by spending approximately 4 months in each of two to three different laboratories.