Students come from diverse backgrounds with a wide variety of research interests and career goals.
Graduate programs leading to the Ph.D., M.S. and M.Ag. are offered. In addition to earning a degree in plant pathology and microbiology, alternative degrees may be earned with those professors holding membership on the genetics faculty or the plant physiology faculty. Students design their academic program, independent research project, or internship in consultation with their major professor and graduate committee. Committee members play a critical role in the progress of the student's project and may come from within the department as well as from cooperative laboratories and agencies with common research intests. In most cases, the student chooses the major advisor with consent before or shortly following admission to the department.