College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences

Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences

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Graduate Student Handbook

Department of Crop and Soil Sciences

Washington State University

2007-2008

 

Crop Science Graduate Student

Academic Requirements and Policies

 

 Incoming Graduate Students:

The advisor, thesis committee, and Graduate Coordinator will discuss course expectations of incoming students on an individual basis. Entering students should have a solid B.S. level background in mathematics, chemistry, and the biological sciences.  If it is determined that an incoming student is deficient, they may be asked to make up those deficiencies by taking or auditing courses or by doing extra reading.  

 

 

 

Master’s Degree:

A suggested guideline for progress toward the M.S. degree is included below.

MS Core Course Requirements		Credits	Sem	Offered
CropS 510	Seminar	1	F, S	every year
CropS 512	Special Topics, State Tour	1	F, S	every year
CropS 700	Master’s Research (Thesis Option)	4	F, S	every year
CropS 702	Master’s Special Problems (Non-Thesis Option)	4	F, S	every year

Graduate School Course Requirements for a Non-Thesis Master’s Degree

• 30 hours minimum of total credit
• 26 hours minimum of graded course work, which consists of:
  • 17 hours minimum of graded course work at the 500-level
  • 4 hours minimum of 702
  • 9 hours maximum of non-graduate graded course work credit (300-400 level only)

Graduate School Course Requirements for a Thesis Master’s Degree

• 30 hours minimum of total credit
• 21 hours minimum of graded course work, which consists of:
  • 15 hours minimum of graded course work at the 500-level
  • 4 hours minimum of 700-level credit in major
  • 6 hours maximum of non-graduate graded course work (300-400 level only)

MS Suggested Course Options		Credits	Sem	Offered
MBioS 303	Introductory Biochemistry	4	F, S	every year
Stat 412	Biometry	3	F, S	every year
CropS 444/445	Plant Breeding I & II	2/2	S	every year
CropS 503	Advanced Cropping Systems	3	F	every year
Stat 512	Analysis of Variance of Designed Experiments	3	F, S	every year
Stat 519	Applied Multivariate Analysis	3	S	every year
CropS 546	Plant Breeding (UI PlSc 546)	3
CropS 547	Biometrics for Plant Scientists (UI PlSc 547)	3	S	odd years

 

           

Doctor of Philosophy Degree:

A suggested guideline for progress toward the Ph.D. degree is included below.

PhD Core Course Requirements		Credits	Sem	Offered
CropS 510	Seminar	2	F, S	every year
CropS 511	Research Proposal and Development	2	F, S	every year
CropS 512	Special Topics	1	F, S	every year
CropS 512	Special Topics, State Tour	1	F, S	every year
CropS 800	Doctoral Research	20	F, S	every year

Summary of Doctoral Program of Study Requirements

• 72 hours minimum total credits
• 34 hours minimum from graded courses, which consists of:
  • 21 hours minimum of graded coursework at the 500-level
  • 20 hours minimum 800-level research credits
  • 9 hours maximum of non-graduate courses (300-400 level only)

Breeding/Genetics Suggested Course Options		Credits	Sem	Offered
CropS 504	Plant Transmission Genetics (UI PlSc 507)	3	S	odd years
CropS 505	Adv. Classical and Mol. Breeding	3	F	odd years
CropS 512	Special Topics, History of Genetics	1-2	S	odd years
MBioS  513	General Biochemistry	3	F	every year
or 514	General Biochemistry	3	S	every year
Biol 519	Introduction to Population Genetics	3	F	even years
Biol 520	Conservation Genetics	2
CropS 520	Plant Cytogenetic Techniques (UI PlSc 520)	3	S	odd years
MBioS 520	Eukaryotic Molecular Genetics	2	F	every year
Biol 521	Quantitative Genetics	2	F	every year
Biol 522	Molecular Population Genetics and Evolution	2
Pl P 525	Field Plant Pathology and Mycology	1	S	odd–alt yrs
MBioS 530	Plant Molecular Genetics	3	S	even years
Pl P 534	Fungal Genetics	4	S	odd–alt yrs
Pl P 535	Molecular Genetics of Plant & Pathogen Inter.	2	S	every year
Math/Biol 563	Mathematical Genetics (UI)	3	S	every year
Physiology Suggested Course Options		Credits	Sem	Offered
MBioS 513	General Biochemistry	3	F	every year
MBioS 514	General Biochemistry	3	S	every year
Biol 518	Photosynthesis, Photorespiration, Plant Product.	3	S	odd years
Production/Management Suggested Course Options		Credits	Sem	Offered
CropS 503	Advanced Cropping Systems	3	F	every year
SoilS 413	Introduction to Soil Physics	3	F	every year
CropS 513	Biology of Weeds	3	F	even years
CropS 539	Herbicide Fate and Mode of Action (UI PlSc 539)	4
CropS 557	Herbicides, Toxicology and Mode of Action	1	F	odd years
Biol 562	Community Ecology	3	F
Turf Management Suggested Course Options		Credits	Sem	Offered
CropS 539	Herbicide Fate & Mode of Action (UI PlSc 539)	4	S	odd years
CropS 546	Plant Breeding (UI PlSc 546)	3
CropS 556	Insecticides: Toxicology and Mode of Action	1	F	odd years
CropS 557	Herbicides, Toxicology and Mode of Action	1	F	odd years
Crops 558	Pesticides Topics	1	F	odd years
SoilS 547	Advance Soil Fertility Management	3	S	every year
Biol 562	Community Ecology	3	F
Biol 517	Stress Physiology of Plants	3	S	even years
Biol 548	Evolutionary Ecology of Populations		3
IPM 552	Pesticides and the Environment	2	S	even years
Pl P 521	General Mycology	4	F	every year
Pl P 529	General Plant Pathology	3	F	every year
Stat 412	Biometry	3	F, S	every year
Stat 512	Analysis of Variance of Designed Experiments	3	F, S	every year

 

 

Preliminary Doctoral Examination:

The preliminary exam is an exam to determine if a student is qualified to be admitted into candidacy for the PhD degree.  The exam assesses knowledge of crop science, ability to think critically and independently, and ability to conduct independent research (form hypotheses, design experiments, collect and analyze data, put the research in context of the current state of knowledge, draw conclusions).  Ph.D. preliminary examinations in Crops consist of two parts, Crops 511 (Research Proposal Development), and an oral exam.  Crops 511 should be taken during the second semester and the oral exam should be taken during the fourth semester (you will be sent a reminder by the Academic Coordinator). This permits appraisal of the student's ability and background before a major amount of time has been invested in a Ph.D. program. 

Crops 511, a 2-credit course is to be taken during student’s second semester and consists of the following:

• The student will develop a 15-page (minimum) research proposal on his/her dissertation topic that will be distributed to members of the committee, as well as the graduate coordinator, 3 weeks prior to oral presentation.  This proposal must be a unique document prepared by the student that demonstrates his/her understanding of the objectives of this research, as well as the strategies and procedures that will be used to address these objectives.  A copy of the proposal also will be available in the main office for faculty review. 

• The student will prepare and deliver an oral presentation related to the proposal, which will be open to faculty, staff and students.

• Following the presentation, the student will participate in a 1 to 2 hour question and answer session with committee members and interested faculty.  Suggestions offered up by faculty outside of the student’s committee should be taken into consideration, however, these suggestions should not be deemed as mandatory points that must be changed.

• A satisfactory grade for the course will be assigned to the student based on the average of grades issued by the committee members and participating faculty (grade options: A through C, where “A” indicates that the student demonstrated an excellent understanding of the topic and C indicates that the student failed to successfully demonstrate an understanding of the topic).  If a satisfactory grade is received, the students will pass this stage of the process and will be qualified to take the oral prelims.  If the student receives an unsatisfactory/fail grade, students will have a 3-4 month period to revise the proposal and prepare another presentation.  If the student fails on the second attempt, he/she will not be allowed to continue their graduate training program in Crop Science.

The oral examination must be scheduled with the Graduate School using a “Preliminary Exam Scheduling Form” found at http://www.gradsch.wsu.edu/.  The oral should be scheduled in the fourth semester.  The oral exam is conducted under the supervision of a representative of the Graduate School.  All committee members must attend and vote.  Other members of faculty may attend and members of the graduate faculty in the department may also vote.  The purpose of the oral exam is to allow faculty to have the opportunity to probe the depth of a student’s knowledge of the whole field of Crop Science and the ability of the student to think critically and independently.

At the discretion of the committee, a student who fails the prelim exam may be given the opportunity to retake the exam.  A student who fails the prelim exam the second time is terminated from the graduate program.

 

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Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, PO Box 646420, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-6420 USA
Phone: 509-335-3475,  Fax: 509-335-8674,