Biological Sciences

Overview

• The Biological Sciences degree at University of Nevada, Las Vegas is research intensive and designed to prepare students for careers in academia, government, and industry as engaged scholars who are experts in their chosen field. Students must complete a minimum of 60 credit hours from a list of core and approved courses within their research section. They must engage in independent research that is novel and exciting culminating with a dissertation that makes an important contribution to their chosen field. 
• As such, it is expected that their dissertation work will be published in peer reviewed journals with the student listed as first author. Successful students are also trained and expected to develop as effective teachers and educators, and each student must serve as a teaching assistant for two semesters as part of the degree program.

Learning Outcomes

All students graduating with a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences should be able to:

• Master a critical set of key concepts specific for each sectional concentration.

• Gain expertise with key methodologies and experimental techniques specific for each sectional concentration.

• Read, comprehend, and critically evaluate the current published scientific literature.

• Evaluate a scientific question and formulate testable hypotheses.

• Independently design experiments to effectively test hypotheses.

• Generate and collect reproducible data.

• Access up-to-date methods for analyzing and tabulating data.

• Communicate scientific results effectively in oral presentations to general and specialized audiences.