The student's Major Professor and Advisory Committee recommends what other courses in various programs will enhance prospects for the student's research and intended career. The M.S. degree requires 24 credit hours of graduate coursework and a successfully defended research thesis. The Ph.D. program requires four terms of residency before the qualifying examination, two semesters of post-qualifying residency, and a successfully defended research dissertation. A student is assigned to a Major Professor either before admission or during the first few months of residence. This assignment is principally based on the student's chosen area of specialization.
Students gain experience in plant pathology through participation in a variety of activities.
All students are required to present formal seminars to the department and are encouraged to present the results of their research at regional and national scientific meetings. Significance, nature, causes, and methods of control of plant diseases. The chemical constituents of plants, their interaction, and the regulation of their interaction in key plant metabolic systems will be studied. Included in the course will be discussions of photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, nitrate reduction, nitrogen assimilation, plant growth and its regulation, and the structure and metabolism of constituents unique to plants. Each Spring semester, several distinguished scientists visit the campus to deliver a series of three formal lectures each and to participate in numerous informal contacts with graduate students.