College: College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health
Designation: Interdisciplinary program
Major: Microbiology
Degrees Offered: Ph.D.
Other: Ph.D. Minor; M.S. degrees are offered in Bacteriology and in Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Faculty: Professors Goodrich-Blair (program director, Bacteriology), and Gourse (vice-director, Bacteriology) lead the current MDTP Steering Committee. For a complete list of nearly 90 participating faculty, please contact the program office or visit the Web site.
The Department of Bacteriology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine and Public Health (see separate listings) administer the interdepartmental Microbiology Doctoral Training Program. Incoming students have the opportunity to do laboratory rotations with any of the primary faculty, affiliate faculty, and trainers from multiple departments. This group includes nearly 90 faculty members in numerous departments and programs involved in microbiology research and graduate training. In addition to this breadth of opportunities in microbiology research training, the program also encompasses graduate courses offered by both departments.
The Ph.D. program prepares graduates for research and teaching positions in universities and colleges, for industry or government, and for clinical microbiology.
Research emphasis includes prokaryotic and lower eukaryotic genetics; gene expression and its regulation; microbial physiology and diversity including microbial photosynthesis; nitrogen fixation; molecular structure-function relationships of transfer RNA, RNA polymerase, and other components of transcription and translation systems; nucleic acid synthesis; gene regulation; characterization of microbial virulence determinants and other components; mechanisms of microbial persistence, microbial genomics, macrophage activation and other cell immune systems; immunology; mechanisms of pathogenesis; symbiosis; biotechnology/industrial microbiology; food microbiology; microbial ecology; and plant-microbial interactions. Dissertation research emphasizes creative and innovative problem-solving using basic knowledge acquired through scientific interactions and collaborations in addition to a thorough understanding of the scientific literature.
Students may complete a joint Ph.D. degree in MDTP and another program on campus under the following conditions. The student must apply for admission to MDTP by the program's yearly deadline and be admitted using the same criteria applied to other applicants. The student must complete all requirements of the MDTP program in addition to the requirements for the other program sponsoring the joint degree. The student must pass a different preliminary examination in each program. The student's dissertation committee and preliminary examination must adhere to MDTP guidelines. The Ph.D. advisor must be a trainer in the MDTP. A significant portion of the student's dissertation research must be completed in the laboratory of the Ph.D. advisor. The student's program, including any deviations, must be approved by the steering committee.
Research assistantships are available for most students from department and college-level funding sources or from competitive fellowship and traineeship awards, with continued support contingent upon adequate progress in classes and research. Applicants with outstanding records will be nominated for special fellowships or for traineeships on one of several NIH training grants awarded to UW-Madison.
To qualify for admission to the microbiology program, an applicant should have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution with a GPA of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) that includes two semesters of biology (can include microbiology); one semester of genetics; four semesters of chemistry, including two semesters of organic chemistry; one semester of biochemistry; two semesters of physics; and two semesters of calculus or one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. The course sequence of the undergraduate Biology Core Curriculum at UW-Madison is one means of meeting the biology requirements. Deficiencies in excess of six semester credits should be removed before enrollment. All applicants must provide scores from the general Graduate Record Exam (GRE); international students must provide evidence of English proficiency by taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam.
For more information: Program Coordinator, Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, 120 Biochemistry Building, 420 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706; 608/265-0689; fax 608/262-9865; micro@bact.wisc.edu; www.microbiology.wisc.edu.