CSS Graduate Student Spotlight!
Lydiah Gatere, CSS graduate student, discussing conservation framing
with farmers and extension agents as part of her PhD research in Zambia. Click here to learn more about her research and to see more photos.
The Graduate School at Cornell is organized into over 90 disciplinary fields, which are voluntary groupings of faculty members and scientists with similar areas of interest. Fields at Cornell are subdivided into subject areas and concentrations.
About 33 faculty have been drawn together into the field of Soil and Crop Sciences by mutual professional interests in the concentrations of Environmental Information Science, Environmental Management, Field Crop Science, Soil Science, and Agronomy. The field of Soil and Crop Sciences is closely linked with the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, an administrative unit within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell. Most members of the field are also faculty members in the department. As recognized fiscal units of the college, the department administers teaching, extension programs, and salaries, as well as all research funds and the graduate student financial support derived from research funds. The field of Soil and Crop Sciences is responsible for determining admissions of new graduate students to the field, maintaining records of graduate student progress, nominating students for awards and fellowships, and setting guidelines for requirements within the field.
Photo courtesy of Olena Vatamaniuk
Research on Arabidopsis being conducted in Olena Vatamaniuk's laboratory.
The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) is the representative of the field to the Graduate School. This faculty member organizes the review and evaluation of application materials, recommends the admission of students, coordinates financial assistance, organizes the annual review of graduate students, and serves as a liaison between students and faculty members. Dr. Dan Buckley is currently serving as the DGS for Soil and Crop Sciences.
Students admitted to the field may choose emphasis in any of the five concentrations. Examples of areas of specialization within these concentrations include: crop production and physiology, forest soils, plant stress, seed reproduction and physiology, soil fertility, soil genesis, soil microbiology, soil morphology, soil physics, soil and water chemistry, and weed science. Students may apply for admission to the M.P.S.(Agr.), M.S., M.S./ Ph.D., or Ph.D. programs. Students at the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) level may apply to either an M.S. program or an M.S./Ph.D. program. In the latter program, they can go through an integrated program that includes both degrees.
Photo courtesy of Dan Buckley
CSS graduate student, Florence Hsu, collecting soil sample for her PhD research program.
All Soil and Crop Sciences degree programs offer students the opportunity to supplement intensive coursework in the department with coursework from related disciplines. All graduate degree programs in the field of Soil and Crop Sciences are individualized to suit students' interests, backgrounds, and goals. Students must, however, satisfy minimum university and field requirements, either through prior work at another institution or through work at Cornell. Each student works closely with a major professor and a graduate special committee. This group of faculty members determines Field requirements based on the student's training and career goals, and on each committee's composition.
Students must earn two units of residence credit for an M.S. degree and six units for a Ph.D. degree (2+4 for M.S./Ph.D.). One unit can be granted for each semester of full-time study, as explained in the section entitled "Requirements for Degrees." Oral or oral/written examinations are also required for all graduate degrees, according to schedules organized by the student's special committee.