Graduate programs are offered under the aegis of divisional departments as well as interdepartmental committees composed of faculty members with a common interest in a broad but definable area of advanced study. Recent years have seen a trend in graduate study in the biological sciences away from strict separations of disciplines and toward interdisciplinary approaches to research. Toward a similar goal in the Division of the Biological Sciences, several degree-granting units have joined together in clusters, with a common admissions process and a core basic curriculum. The cluster arrangement offers students greater flexibility in their choice of department or committee, while enhancing interdisciplinary research opportunities. The fundamentals of graduate education in the division are not altered by these provisions.
Students still complete their degrees in individual departments and committees.
The goal of all the programs, whether offered by clusters or individual departments or committees, is the creation and dissemination of fundamental knowledge of life processes and the education and training of outstanding young scholars in these disciplines. To this end, the Division of the Biological Sciences has assembled a dedicated and talented faculty, strong in research and teaching, and has developed laboratory and other facilities of the first rank that allow the faculty and graduate students to pursue their goals at the highest level of excellence. The Committee on Virology Three degree-granting units have not entered into a cluster arrangement and provide separate admission.