Biology Graduate Overview

The WKU Biology department offers the Master of Science in Biology degree. Training in Biology provides many opportunities in teaching, research, and public service and provides excellent preparation for many other areas of basic and applied sciences. In additional to the traditional MS in Biology Degree, we also recently started an online Non-thesis MS in Biology designed for in-service teachers.

WKU Biology faculty have interests in a variety of areas that we classify broadly as Biotechnology (and the associated area of Bioinformatics) and Biodiversity. Faculty are members of one or more of the WKU Research Centers but most relevant to most faculty are the Biotechnology, Bioinformatics and Biodiversity Centers. For a list of current faculty interests, please go to our faculty profiles pages. Our faculty are supported by research grants from federal (e.g., NSF, NIH, USDA, USFW) and state sources as well as from non-governmental organizations. Graduate students pursuing the thesis MS often write grant applications for funds to supplement their research needs. Such funds come from internal sources such as the Graduate School as well as numerous appropriate outside agencies, foundations, institutions and societies. Students in our non-thesis program (in person or online) conduct a project as part of their degree requirement (Biology 516). Biology partners with the education program to offer a MA in Education Biology. Our in-residence graduate students come from all over globe, forming a dynamic group of future professionals in the biological sciences. For a list of current and some of our past graduate students, go to the Student Information, Research and Teaching page.