Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Ph.D.

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The Natural Resources and Environmental Science (NRES) Ph.D. degree offers graduate study of the ecology, management, and restoration of ecosystems. Areas of specialization include (but are not limited to):

Biogeochemistry and Soil Processes
Climate Change Ecology
Conservation Biology
Ecosystem Ecology
Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology
Environmental Science
Fire Ecology
Forest Ecology
Freshwater Science
Landscape Ecology
Natural Resource Ecology
Quantitative Ecology
Remote Sensing of Natural Resources
Restoration Ecology
Wildlife Ecology

The NRES Doctoral degree program is inherently multidisciplinary and capitalizes upon the broad spectrum of expertise offered by NRES departmental faculty. Student learning outcomes include:

Students will be able to demonstrate critical thinking, writing, and communication skills that will enable them to succeed after graduation.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the theoretical basis and experimental methods used for study of natural resources and environmental science.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of experimental design; field/laboratory instrumentation and procedures; computer models; and data analyses used in natural resource and environmental science research.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

demonstrate effective written and oral communication by preparing a written thesis and delivering an oral presentation of their work.
design research experiments and apply field/laboratory instrumentation and procedures used in natural resource and environmental science research.
organize and curate data, conduct rigorous statistical analyses, and apply computer models and other quantitative techniques used in natural resource and environmental science research.
apply scientific theories and data to assess, inform, and improve conservation and management of natural resources.

Contact Information

Dr. Jonathan Greenberg
Associate Professor and NRES Graduate Program Director
NresGraduateProgram@unr.edu
(415) 763-5476
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Mail Stop 186
1664 N. Virginia Street
Reno, NV 89557-0014

Admission Requirements

Students who seek admission to the program should have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0. Students must have an advisor among the NRES faculty before they are accepted into the Program. Students must meet a set of coursework requirements consistent with career objectives in a relevant natural resources and environmental science field. Required undergraduate classes must be taken prior to admittance or while in their graduate program.

I. Program Requirements

NRES Ph.D. students must pass the following milestones to earn a Ph.D., each of which are described in detail below:

Complete required courses as well as earn a UNR-mandated number of credits.
Declare one or more advisors, establish a graduate advisory committee of at least five (5) members of the UNR graduate faculty, and submit a program of study.
Pass a written and oral comprehensive exam prepared by the graduate advisory committee meant to test the student’s discipline-specific knowledge and science communication skills.
Prepare a dissertation proposal in collaboration with the graduate advisory committee.
Perform dissertation research.
Write and defend dissertation.

In addition to these milestones, all NRES Ph.D. students are required to work with their advisor to draft an annual statement of goals and expectations and provide annual evaluation reports showing satisfactory progress through the program.

A. Course Requirements (34 units)

1. Required Courses

All NRES Ph.D. students must take :

NRES 685 “Conversations of Natural Resources and Environmental Science” (typically in the first semester)
Six (6) credits of approved quantitative coursework at the 600 or higher level
Four (4) credits of a committee approved seminar series (NRES 685 counts towards this requirement).

Beyond these courses, the NRES Ph.D. degree is intended to be “committee-driven” where the student has flexibility to select most courses and develop a program of study under the guidance of an advisory committee, making sure the minimum credit requirements of the grad school are achieved.

NRES 685 - Special Topics (1 to 3 units)

B. Comprehensive Exam (2 units)

The comprehensive exam’s purpose is to test the student’s knowledge of their chosen course of study, and along with the dissertation proposal, is designed to ensure a valid course of research has been examined by the student’s entire committee before the bulk of the research begins. The timelines and order of completing these two steps are recommendations and can be adjusted as needed with consent of the committee, but must be treated as separate requirements (i.e. the comprehensive exam should not be combined with the dissertation proposal). The student must pass their written and oral comprehensive exams and have an approved dissertation proposal prior to advancing to candidacy. A student must fulfill all candidacy requirements at least 12 months before graduation.

The written and oral comprehensive exam should be focused on knowledge of the concepts the committee deems relevant to the course of study. The exam consists of a set of written questions provided by each member of the committee and will be graded by the same committee member. The length of the exam is up to the committee as is whether the exam is open-book or closed-book.

Each section should be graded as “Pass”, “Follow-up Needed”, or “Fail”. A student must receive a “Pass” or a “Follow-up Needed” from all but one member of their committee before moving on to the oral section of the exam which must be scheduled within 3 months of the written exam. The oral exam should be designed to first address weaknesses in their written exam (“Follow-up Needed”) and further discussion of topics of relevance to the student’s field of study. The student must receive a “Pass” by all but one of the committee members on the oral portion to pass the comprehensive exam. In general, this exam should be completed within two years of the student’s start date.

A failure to meet the requirements of the written exam occurs when the student has not met the threshold described above or when the student’s committee decides that the totality of the effort is unsatisfactory. At this point, the student can petition the committee to retake the sections of the exam in which they received a “Fail”. If the committee agrees, the student has three months to retake both the written and oral portions in which they received a “Fail”. If either 1) the committee does not agree to allow the student to retake the exam or 2) the student does not receive a “Pass” during the second attempt, the student will be deemed as having made “unsatisfactory progress” through the Ph.D. program and will be prevented from re-enrolling in the program. At that time, upon request by the student, the committee may elect to award a M.S. degree if other requirements of the M.S. degree are met. While the student may reapply to the Ph.D. program at a future date, they will be required to meet all of the original program requirements including retaking the comprehensive exam.

NRES 795 - Comprehensive Examination (1 to 3 units)

C. Dissertation and Defense (24 units)

Each candidate will write and defend in public their dissertation. The student’s advising committee will pass judgement about the quality and sufficiency of the dissertation and its defense. The dissertation must also be accepted by the Graduate School.

See the Graduate Handbook for formatting requirements for the dissertation and details on the dissertation defense.

NRES 799 - Dissertation (1 to 24 units)

F. Teaching requirements

Teaching and mentorship will be a critical skill for researchers at the PhD level regardless of their ultimate career goal. As such, all PhD students are required to participate in at least one (1) semester of committee-approved teaching or mentorship. This can include direct teaching experience (e.g. a teaching assistantship or full course responsibility), professional training in education, or guided mentorship of other students.

II. Total Units

60 graduate units

Notes

The requirements detailed above constitute the expectations of all Ph.D. students entering the program, but we recognize that there may need to be exceptions to these policies under certain circumstances. As such, it is the right and responsibility of the Graduate Program Committee to consider any requests for exceptions to these policies. Policy exception requests should be made, via email, to the Graduate Program Director. The exception request should include a description of the specific policy under question, and why the student cannot meet this expectation. The policy will be voted on in a timely fashion by the Graduate Program Committee, with ties being broken by the Graduate Program Director. If the exception illuminates a more general issue that future graduate students may need to deal with, the Graduate Program Committee may elect to modify this handbook to reflect these changes. Please note that some requirements are set by UNR and are cannot be overridden by the Graduate Program Committee. Exceptions to these UNR-level policies may need to be escalated to the Graduate School in collaboration with the Graduate Program Director.