Eligible Elective Courses for the Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Courses by Category
Prescribed Electives
The following table lists courses central to EEB according to whether they fit into the Ecology, Evolution, or Quantitative categories. Students entering with an undergraduate degree will be required to take one course from each of the three categories; students with a master’s degree will be required to take courses from two out of the three categories. These courses will typically be taken in the second year of studies.
Note: The classes below can also be used as free electives once the Prescribed Elective requirements have been fulfilled. For other possible Free Electives, see the Relevant Graduate Course page.
Update: Beginning Fall 2022 ESSM, RENR, and WFSC course prefixes, and in some cases, course names will change to reflect the department in which each course now belongs, either the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology (ECCB) or Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management (RWFM). For a full guide to these courses, visit ECCB Legacy Course Guide.
Do you teach a course that would be a good addition to the prescribed electives list? Faculty members may petition to add a course they teach to the prescribed electives list by sending an updated syllabus and justification email to the EEB Curriculum Chair or Program Coordinator. The justification letter is a brief statement (a few sentences) about how the course is relevant to EEB graduate education.
Please use the link below to submit a change request. If you are the Instructor of Record, updates will be made immediately. If not, we will confirm the change details with the IoR and change as appropriate. Thank you for helping us keep our course list up-to-date.
Change Request Form
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Ecology
| Dept | No. | Course Title | Instructor | Taught |
| ECCB | 600 | Populations, Communities & Ecosystems (elective or core but not both) | Winemiller | Fall |
| ECCB | 613 | Dynamics of Population (previously WFSC 624) | Fujiwara | Fall |
| ECCB | 621 | Physiological Plant Ecology (previously ESSM 621) | West | Fall |
| ECCB | 630 | Advanced Restoration Ecology (previously ECCB 689) | Rogers | Spring |
| ECCB | 655 | Applied Biodiversity Science I (previously WFSC/RPTS 655) | Fitzgerald/Stronza | Spring, even yrs |
| ECCB | 689 | Special Topics in Modeling Ecological Niches and Species Distributions (Ecology or Quantitative elective but not both) | Lawing | Fall, even yrs |
| ENTO | 614 | Insect Community Ecology | Coulson | Spring, odd yrs |
| ENTO | 616 | Chemical Ecology | Helms | Fall, odd yrs |
| ENTO/GEOG | 625 | Landscape Ecology | Coulson | Fall |
| ENTO/VIBS | 626 | Methods in Vector-borne Disease Ecology | Hamer, S/Hamer, G | Spring, odd yrs |
| ENTO | 689 | Special Topics: Chemical Ecology | Helms | Fall, odd yrs |
| GEOL | 650 | Paleoecology | Belanger | Varies |
| ECCB | 689 | Special Topics in Extinction Risk Assessment (Ecology or Quantitative elective but not both) | Lawing | Spring |
Evolution
| Dept | No. | Course Title | Instructor | Taught |
| BIOL | 610 | Evolution (elective or core but not both) | Delmore/Criscione | Fall |
| ECCB | 602 | Molecular Evolution (previously WFSC/GENE 648) | Casola | Spring, even yrs |
| ECCB/ENTO | 606 | Quantitative Phylogenetics | Mateos | Spring |
| ECCB | 634 | Conservation Genetics (previously WFSC 633) | Hurtado | Spring, even yrs |
| ECCB | 645 | Ecological Genomics | Casola | Spring, odd yrs |
| ECCB | 689 | Special Topics in Shape of Evolution (Evolution or Quantitative elective but not both) | Lawing | Fall, odd yrs |
| ENTO | 601 | Principles of Systematic Entomology | Song | Fall, even yrs |
| MARB | 668 | Marine Evolutionary Biology (Galveston only) | Schulze/Kitchen | Spring |
Quantitative
| Dept | Number | Course Title | Instructor | Taught |
| BIOL | 683 | Experimental Design in Biology | Blackmon | Fall |
| ECCB | 631 | Ecological Applications in R | Perkin | Spring |
| ECCB | 660 | Landscape Analysis & Modeling (previously ESSM 660) | Wu | Spring |
| ECCB | 645 | Ecological Genomics (Evolution or Quantitative elective but not both) | Casola | Spring, odd yrs |
| ECCB | 689 | Special Topics in Modeling Ecological Niches and Species Distributions (Ecology or Quantitative elective but not both) | Lawing | Fall, even yrs |
| GEOL | 651 | Paleoecological Community Analysis | Belanger/Bapst | Spring |
| GEOL | 670 | Geological Data Analysis | Bapst | Fall |
| STAT | 651 | Statistics in Research I | TBA | Every semester |
| STAT | 652 | Statistics in Research II | TBA | Every semester |
| ECCB | 689 | Special Topics in Extinction Risk Assessment (Ecology or Quantitative elective but not both) | Lawing | Spring |
Free Electives and Dissertation Hours
Depending on individual student needs, students will, in consultation with their dissertation committee, choose additional courses and/or dissertation hours to complete their degree requirements.
