Enrolled PiE Student Resources

Expectations | Travel Funding | Degree Requirements

Expectations of PiE Students

The Program in Ecology is an interdisciplinary graduate program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Ecology. Students and faculty from multiple departments and colleges at the University of Wyoming participate in the Program.  The Program aspires to educate scientists who are:

• capable of integrating concepts and perspectives from across the discipline 
• familiar with the historical and philosophical roots of the discipline
• able to relate concrete ecological phenomena with abstract concepts and theory 
• capable of solving problems and analyzing data quantitatively and qualitatively
• able to conceive, design, and execute ecological research in their area of specialization
• able to anticipate emerging issues and questions in ecology, particularly integrating with other fields (including the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities)
• able to communicate clearly in oral and written form to technical and general audiences
• imbued with a strong sense of professional ethics
• committed to advancing ecological knowledge and its application

PiE Travel Funding Requests:

Students are welcome to submit requests for funding support when traveling to meetings and conferences.  Cost-sharing is a requirement, so please be prepared to gather funding from multiple sources; your advisor, department, college and Academic Affairs may contribute to your fundraising efforts.  To submit a request, please send the following to Brenna Marsicek:

1. The title and date of the conference, meeting or workshop.
2. Why you are attending (presentation? poster? hands-on workshop? etc.)
3. A breakdown of expenditures and funding sources, and the amount requested of Program in Ecology

Please note, PiE travel funding are distributed to as many PiE students as possible, so multiple funding requests from one person in an academic year likely won't be approved.

Requirements (PiE and University)

ENSURE YOU KEEP A COPY OF ALL PAPERWORK YOU SEND TO THE REGISTRAR'S OFFICE!

For all forms:

• Department head/Program director = Bob Hall, PiE Director
• College Dean/Provost = Andrew Hansen, Academic Affairs

Establish advisory committee

• Deadline: end of second semester as PhD student

• Five persons

  • Three members must be PiE faculty

  • One member must be from an outside department; this may include someone from outside the University of Wyoming.

• Complete and submit the Committee Assignment form.  This same form should be used if you are changing a committee member.

Program of Study

• Complete 72 credit hours, at least 42 of which must be coursework hours. (Many of the credit hours from your Master's can be counted toward this requirement. Discuss this with your committee.)

• ECOL 5100 during first year of PhD.

• ECOL 5550 during third or fourth year of PhD.

• ECOL 5350 or an equivalent seminar once per year, except years enrolled in 5100 or 5550.

• Six credit hours of tool skill-developing classes (e.g., statistics, modeling, GIS, remote sensing, bioinformatics) early in residency.

• Complete least one class at the UW taken for a grade (A-F) in order to establish a UW GPA.

• Student has four years to complete his/her degree after he/she takes prelims, unless an extension was requested and granted.

• Complete and submit the Program of Study form

  • Please note your program of study cannot be turned in before your committee assignment form. They must be turned in simultaneously or the committee form submitted prior to your program of study form.

• Students may substitute courses for those on their Program of Study (for example, PoS says to take Bot 4015, you take Bot 5015 instead).  To authorize this, the student's advisor must send an email to Dawn Carver (Registrar's Office), AND cc the student, department head, and Brenna Marsicek, indicating the substitution.

• To add or drop a major or minor, complete the Change of Major form and submit to the registrar.

NSF-Style Proposal

• Student must prepare an NSF-style proposal by his/her fourth semester. The proposal is not NSF-style in terms of formatting, but rather in terms of innovative and compelling content. The proposal must outline:

  • A clearly identified research question,

  • A designed approach for investigating that question, and

  • A plan for implementing the approach.

• The student must submit this proposal to his/her committee, and receive feedback from each committee member indicating approval of the proposal or request revisions.

• All committee members must approve this proposal prior to starting the preliminary exams.

Preliminary Examinations

• The student must show adequate proficiency in ecology via oral and written preliminary exams in order for admission to candidacy for the Ecology PhD.

• Written prelims:

  • The goal of written prelims is to test the students' breadth of knowledge in Ecology.

  • Written prelims must be taken no sooner than 2 weeks following the approval of the research proposal.

  • Committee members will indicate pass/fail within one week following completion of written exams.

• Oral prelims:

  • The goal of oral prelims is to verify the student is prepared to carry out a dissertation research project, evaluate the student's ability to understand and apply specific questions to larger concepts, and think spontaneously and creatively.

  • Oral prelims will occur no sooner than two weeks after the student successfully completes his/her written prelims.

  • The student's committee will discuss the student's performance immediately following the exam, and administer a pass/fail grade at that time.

  • Students will have one opportunity to retake the oral exam.

• Whether successful or unsuccessful, complete and submit the Report on Preliminary Examination for Admission to Candidacy form 

Public Seminars

• Two oral presentations on the student's research is required. Both must be open to the public.

  • First presentation: discuss dissertation research proposal prior to submitting the proposal to his/her committee.

  • Second presentation: summarize the dissertation research, normally given the same semester of the student's defense.

  • Work with the PiE office associate to conduct outreach if you choose.

Dissertation Defense

• Complete and submit Report on Final Examination form 

• Check that your dissertation is formatted correctly by using the Five Pages guide.

• Submit your dissertation online by the designated date of that semester. 

• Email your dissertation to Brenna at brenna.marsicek@uwyo.edu to include in the Program in Ecology dissertation library.

Other Forms/Processes Required for Graduation:

• Complete and submit the Anticipated Graduation Date form 

• Pay graduation fee ($25) by last day of classes the semester you're graduating. This must be paid to the Cashier's Office in Knight Hall.

• Log into WyoWeb and run a degree check on yourself to see which requirements you have yet to complete; contact Brenna if you have questions.