Forestry Graduate Program

New Program Offered Spring 2008!

Master's Degree in Natural Resources

Related Information

Graduate Assistantship Openings

M.S. and Ph.D. Graduate Research Assistantships in Forest, Ag and Urban Watershed Hydrology (PDF)
M.S. Graduate Assistant Position in Forest Resource Economics and Policy (PDF)
Ph.D. Graduate Assistant Position in Landscape Ecology and Ecological Modeling (PDF)
Ph.D. or M.S. Graduate Assistant Position in Landscape Ecology and Ecological Modeling (PDF)

Graduate research programs leading to the M.S. or Ph.D. in forestry are designed to prepare students for careers in academic institutions, consulting firms, industry and state and federal agencies.

Forestry graduates interested in research or teaching may concentrate much of their course work in one or more of the related sciences with a thesis appropriate to forestry. Dissertation research may be directed toward the solution of problems faced by the practicing forester or may consist of fundamental investigations pertinent to the solution of such problems.

Specialized graduate education is available in agroforestry, biometrics, community and landscape ecology, economics, entomology, fire ecology, hydrology, geographic information systems, physiological ecology, physiology, policy, silviculture, soils, forest management, stand dynamics, water quality, wood quality and tree-ring analysis. Students conducting research.

Students often conduct joint research with natural resource specialists at the North Central Forest Experiment Station (U.S. Forest Service), the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Master's Degree

The master's degree in forestry is designed for students with an undergraduate degree in forestry or in one of the biological, physical or social sciences basic to forestry. Students with previous professional education in forestry may wish to undertake preliminary preparation for both research and teaching, or may wish to obtain greater depth in a specialized area.

Those without a bachelor's degree in forestry may wish to further their education in forest science or to attain professional competence by completing course work in forestry.

Work required of students without a forestry degree who want a professional forestry education includes courses in dendrology, utilization of forest resources, resource measurements, forest inventory, forest fire control and use, ecology, silviculture, forest information systems, watershed management, forest management, forest economics, and public resource policy. Some of these courses do not carry graduate credit.

Degree Requirements

To attain the master's degree, 30 hours of course work must be completed; 15 hours or more shall be 8000 level. Research, problems, special investigations and special readings courses shall not exceed 12 of the 30 hours. The GPA of all course work submitted for the degree must be 3.0 or better.

A thesis, or a minimum of five semester hours of non-thesis research acceptable to the student's committee, shall be completed before the final examination. Research toward a thesis normally shall not exceed eight hours. Thesis requirements and defense are as defined by the MU Graduate School. A final oral examination is given to all candidates before completion of the degree.

Doctoral Degree

Degree Requirements

The Ph.D. degree in forestry is designed to prepare students for academic careers in research and teaching or other advanced scientific or professional careers. The student pursuing the doctoral program is expected to pass a qualifying, comprehensive and final examination administered by the student's doctoral committee. This committee is structured as defined by the MU Graduate School and must have representatives from at least two disciplines outside forestry.

The qualifying examination determines whether the student's background is adequate to enter the Ph.D. program. It also is intended to ascertain if there are areas of weakness in which a candidate will be required to gain background through appropriate course work.

The objectives of the comprehensive examination are twofold:

To determine if a student has acquired sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge in selected areas of concentration.
To evaluate the candidate's capacity to apply that knowledge in solving applied or theoretical problems.

The final examination is directed primarily toward exploration of the dissertation research project.

Foreign Language Requirements

Requirements for foreign language and a collateral field, if any, are determined by the student's doctoral program committee. The doctoral committee is expected to make an assessment of the student's needs as they relate to the student's background and educational objectives.

Dissertation

An independent scholarly dissertation approved by the student's adviser and program committee must be completed in a form acceptable to the doctoral committee.

The Ph.D. degree is conferred only upon those students who, after extensive study, have demonstrated a high level of achievement in their particular specialization in forestry and have completed independent research contributing to knowledge in the field.

Learn More

For additional information write or call the director of Forestry Graduate Studies, 203 Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building, Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-7242.