Program

The Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) interdepartmental graduate major was created following a growing realization in the 1980s that, although the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology were in general well-represented at ISU, there was little recognition of this group either within or outside the university due to the dispersion of faculty among many departments. In combination with public recognition of increasing environmental and ecological problems both within Iowa and world-wide, there was a pressing need for greater visibility and more effective interaction among EEB faculty at ISU. Thus, several faculty, from various departments, undertook the organization of the EEB major, which was approved by the Iowa Board of Regents in February 1989.

The primary objectives of the EEB program are to

Solidify relationships among ecologists and evolutionary biologists on the ISU faculty,
Provide greater internal and external visibility of EEB at ISU, and
Increase effectiveness in recruiting and training graduate students.

Cooperating Departments

Currently the EEB program includes 61 faculty members from ten departments and has 48 graduate students. Students majoring in EEB choose a major professor from among the EEB graduate faculty. For administrative purposes, particularly office space, students normally are served by the department in which their major professor resides. Cooperating departments must include graduate faculty in EEB and be willing to serve as the administrative home for EEB majors.

The following departments cooperate with the EEB major as administrative departments for graduate students majoring in EEB.

Agronomy
Anthropology
Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology (EEOB)
Entomology
Geological & Atmospheric Sciences
Horticulture
Mathematics
Natural Resource Ecology and Management (NREM)
Plant Pathology
Statistics