10 Reasons to choose Ecology at UC Davis
The Ecology Core Course: 200A, 200B - UC Davis places a high regard on a core curriculum for its graduate programs. The GGE endorses this view and routinely reviews its core course to keep it on the cutting edge. Lead instructors Drs. Holyoak, Strong, and Rice present one of the most broadly comprehensive graduate ecology courses in the world. With a variety of guest lectures, a reading discussion, and the writing assignments, we feel that this is the best graduate level coverage of the field offered anywhere. Please check out the website to see if you agree: ECL200A course website.
The Ecology Seminar - The core of our seminar series is the ECL 296 Thursday seminar in ecology and evoltuion. This series invites over 25 speakers from all around the world each year to present research results to our ecology and evolutionary biology community. Speakers are nominated and hosted by faculty and students. In addition, a variety of related departments and programs have seminars that are open for attendance. These include seminars in Entomolgy, Population Biology, Wildlife Fisheries and Conservation Biology. In addition, the University Storer Lecture Series often brings prominent ecologists to campus. Check out the website for the ECL 296 Ecology / Evolutionary Biology seminar series.
Depth and Diveristy of Training - With 10 Areas of Emphasis, the GGE provides students the capacity to get detailed coursework and formal training in specialized areas within Ecology. With over 110 faculty, UC Davis offers a broader array of coursework in ecology and related fields than any other university in the world. The GGE provides opportunities in an internationally visible lab in virtually all aspects of ecology.
Academic Excellence - The Graduate Group in Ecology boasts one member of the National Academy of Sciences (Schoener), members of the of AAAS (Wainwright, Schoener, Hastings), the lead editor of the journal Ecology (Strong), Two Mercer Award winners (Karban, Stachowicz), an Einstein Award winner (Goldman), two ESA MacArthur Award winners (Hastings, Schoener), four of the ISI most cited scientists in Emvironment / Ecology (Karban, Schoener, Sih, Strong) the academic representative to the Society for Conservation Biology (Schwartz) and a host of other internationally recognized ecologists. UC Davis is the top ranked institution with respect to the number of publications in the field of ecology.
Programmatic Support - Silvia Hillyer is a decorated veteran Student Affairs Officer. She is recognized systemwide for her excellence in student advising and student administration. Further, she is well loved by students and faculty alike.
Professional Placement - Our graduates leave UC Davis ready to step up as leaders in their field. Faculty members, teachers, agency scientists and NGO leaders. Our alumni permeate the worlds of ecological research, ecological training, and conservation management.
Funding - UC Davis is a top 20 university in extramural funding. Our faculty members are among the most well-funded. As a consequence, research assistantship opportunities for students are common. Our students are centrally important to the teaching mission of UC Davis in the biological sciences. Our students compete favorably for UC fellowship dollars as well. As a consequence, GGE Students have historically been supported by some combination of teaching assistantship (32%), research assistantship (38%) and fellowship (30%).
Overall Programmatic Quality - Every ranking of ecology programs places UC Davis near the top. The 2007 US News & World Report ranked UC Davis #1 in the US in the area of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Just to reiterate this point, programs not ranked #1 include Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley and every other university in the country. The National Research Council ranked UC Davis as #5 in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 1995. The ISI, which ranks universities by publication volume within fields, ranks UC Davis as #1 in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Field Research Opportunities - The University of California houses a Natural Reserve system of 35 reserves systemwide. Six of these reserves (Bodega Bay, Eagle Lake, Jepson, McLaughlin, Stebbins Cold Canyon, Quail Ridge) are adminsitered by UC Davis.
Fun - The Odyssey Orientation Field trip; the fall picnic, the Mardi Gras Ball, and the Spring picnic, are great events to participate in at UC Davis. The Ecology Graduate Student Association has numerous events. The GGE takes pride in organizing a series of community-building events. As a large graduate group consisting of over 165 students, the GGE strives to provide opportunities for students and faculty to socialize on a personal, as well as a scientific level.
10 Reasons to not choose Ecology at UC Davis
Money - Other institutions may be able to offer you a higher annual stipend. A recent analysis of comparable universities suggest that UC Davis is slightly behind in making competitive offers. We do not control Teaching or Research Assistantship salary scales. We have recently increased fellowship salary scales. The current academic year/monthly stipend is $1,800. At present a student employed for three quarters as a graduate student researcher receives a monthly salary that ranges from $11,700 to $22,500 per year. Summer salaries may be paid at 100% ranging between $2,600 to $5,050. The level of compensation is determined by the degree objective and the level of education achieved by the student. In other words, senior students are compensated at a higher rate when they achieve certain specific benchmarks. We view this amount as adequate. Nonetheless, this is less than many other institutions. If money is your primary concern in a graduate program, then UC Davis is not for you.
Multi-year Commitments - UC Davis is not like other programs. Most ecology programs are departmentally based. As such, they control Teaching Assistantships that allows them to make long term commitments. Although UC Davis has a comparable number of teaching assistantships, the GGE does not control them, and so cannot promise them in future years. As a consequence, most of our offers are for a single year of support. This, at first, may seem like a weak offer relative to other institutions. However, we urge you to consider the following points. First, over the past 5 years, the GGE has met 100% of student financial need. Second, although we only commit to fellowships for the first year, we reserve 70% of our fellowship funds that we have available to us for continuing students. Thus, while approximately 30% of first year students receive a fellowship, 50% of second year students receive fellowships (3 year average). A similarly large fraction of 3rd and later students receive fellowship support. This compares favorably to other programs around the country. These 2nd and later year fellowships are competitively awarded within the group based on class and research performance at UC Davis.
Hard Work - Our critetia for a doctoral degree is rigorous. Students work hard to meet these expectations. There is much discussion of the difficult job market in ecology. We feel that if a student can identify their preferred professional setting and focus their efforts toward that specific goal, hard work can help them achieve their desired end. Our faculty work hard to make this the best environment possible for training in ecology. It is expected that students work hard to match these goals.
High Expectations - We have high expectations for our students. We provide coursework in the traditional science related area, but we also provide training in grant writing, ethics, public speaking, and other types of professional training. Professional training adds to a student's workload, but we feel that these are worthwhile endeavors that help our alumnis gain the professional appointments they desire. Our students agree. We look for students who maintain high expectations of themselves.
The Costumes - Each year the GGE hosts a Mardi Gras Ball. This is a costume party. Creativity is required. If you don't like dressing up, this can be avoided, but ../../
The Central Valley - Ok, so it is not everyone's cup of tea. Nonetheless, with the California estuarine, coastal, coast range, Sierran foothill and Sierran montane biomes all within a 2-hour drive, things could be a whole lot worse. Alternatively, you could learn to love the vernal pools, riparian zones and major rivers in the Central Valley. It is not that hard, and there is very little to no humidity!
The Open Door Ethic - You will find that faculty generally leave their doors open. We expect you to use this as an invitation to come talk about science. If you aren't that excited by what you are doing, this open invitation may be inconvenient.
No Excuses - Given the resources available, there are few excuses to hide behind. What you can't accomplish is most likely because you didn't work hard enough, work smart enough, or work to find the right help in order to develop the collaboration you needed.
You Are Nuts - You might have to be nuts to pass up on what we think is the world's greatest institution of higher learning in ecology. But then, maybe you are.
Can't Think of Any More Reasons - Sorry, we cheated. We can only think of nine reasons not to join the GGE at UC Davis.