The graduate programs in the Department of Biological Sciences are designed to qualify persons for: i) employment in various biology fields, ii) continued graduate work at the doctoral level, and iii) for teaching biology in high schools, community colleges, and liberal arts colleges. Available programs include research-intensive Master of Science Thesis and Non-thesis options, as well as a Master of Arts option, which emphasizes coursework.

In addition, the Master of Science in Forensic Science (MSFS) degree is the only one of its kind in the state of Kansas. The MSFS program offers a vigorous curriculum encompassing a broad spectrum of subjects including criminalistics, molecular biology, toxicology, and firearms, and it prepares students to work as a scientist in national, state, or regional criminalistics laboratories or conventional analytical laboratories.

Our faculty

Faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences have expertise in a wide range of biological disciplines, including animal behavior, botany, ecology, fisheries and wildlife biology, immunology, microbiology, physiology, zoology, etc. Applicants to the Thesis and Non-thesis options are required to have prior commitment from an academic advisor before admittance into these particular programs. Prospective students are encouraged to search faculty profiles to learn more about their research expertise and contact information and to begin correspondence with prospective advisors before applying and early in the application process.

Our facilities

Equipment and available in certain faculty-operated laboratories or for general departmental use include:

• Constant-temperature chambers for plant and animal studies
• Flow cytometer
• Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS)
• Microtome-tissue embedding system
• Fluorescent microscopes
• Centrifuges of various kinds including an ultracentrifuge
• Electrophoretic, spectrographic, chromatographic, electrophysiological, and immuno-chemical instruments
• Physioecological monitoring equipment
• Equipment for quantitative radioisotopic analysis
• Research-grade microscopes
• Transfer hoods for microbiology and animal cell culturing
• Animal housing facilities
• 8 University-owned Natural Areas
• Natural history museum
• Various gear for field ecology

Additional facilities and ecological research sites:

• H. A. Stephens Herbarium
• Richard H. Schmidt Museum of Natural History (containing hundreds of species of birds and mammals)
• Eight Natural Areas comprising tallgrass prairie, woodland, wetland, stream, and other aquatic habitats. The 200-acre (81 ha) Ross Natural History Reservation also hosts a building with a laboratory and classroom.
• Additionally, the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve are within a half-hour drive of the ESU campus.
• The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism also has a research office on campus and often interacts with the ESU Biology Department.

To be considered for any available teaching assistantships for the fall-spring academic year, those applying for fall-semester admission should submit their applications by February 15. Graduate Research Assistantships might be available from various faculty members for particular research projects, which can be learned during correspondence with prospective advisors.

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