Curriculum
Plant Breeding Ph.D. students are required to have a minimum of 40 credits of coursework toward their major. These include 20 credits of Core Courses, and 20 additional credits of elective courses, chosen either from the Elective Courses list or as determined by their supervisory committee.
This first year of core courses ensures that students will be prepared to take specialized courses and can formulate their dissertation studies. After taking core courses, our students create a plan of study with their advisors and branch out to specialty elective courses that apply to their specific research interest.
Core Courses
All core courses should be completed by the third semester since admission to the program (except for AGR6325L and PCB6555, because of their alternating yearly offerings). Students should also take a minimum of four credits of HOS 6932 Journal Colloquium (1 credit) or any other appropriate Journal Colloquium topic any fall and spring semesters during their graduate studies.
COURSE | INSTRUCTOR(S) | TERM | OFFERED BY | CREDITS |
AGR5266C Field Plot Techniques (syllabus) |
E. Rios | Fall Annual |
Agronomy | 3 |
AGR5321C Genetic Improvement of Plants (syllabus) |
A. Babar F. Altpeter |
Spring Annual |
Agronomy | 3 |
AGR6325L Plant Breeding Techniques1 (syllabus) |
K. Kenworthy | Spring Odd years |
Agronomy | 1 |
PCB6555 Intro to Quantitative Genetics2 (syllabus) |
M. Resende M. Kirst |
Fall Even years |
School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences | 3 |
STA6093 Intro to Applied Statistics for Agricultural & Life Sciences (syllabus) |
D. Valle B. Baiser |
Fall, Spring Annual |
School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences | 3 |
HOS6932 Survey of Breeding Tools & Methods (syllabus) |
P. Munoz | Spring Annual |
Horticultural Sciences | 3 |
HOS6932 Journal Colloquium3 |
Team-taught | Fall, Spring Annual |
Horticultural Sciences | 4 total (1 cred. x 4 terms) |
Total credits of core courses | 20 |
1 Can be taken any spring semester of odd years.
2 Can be taken any fall semester of even years.
3 A minimum of 4 credits of Journal Colloquium must be taken any fall or spring semesters.
Elective Courses
Below is a list of suggested courses that may be taken as electives. Addittional courses not listed here may be taken with approval of the student's supervisory committee.
COURSE | INSTRUCTOR(S) | TERM | OFFERED BY | CREDITS |
AGR5307 Molecular Genetics for Crop Improvement |
F. Altpeter | Spring Even years |
Agronomy | 3 |
AGR6322 Advanced Plant Breeding |
E. Rios | Fall Even Years |
Agronomy | 3 |
AGR6305 Plant Chromosomes and Genomes |
J. Wang E. Rios |
Spring Even Years |
Agronomy | 3 |
AGR5444 Ecophysiology of Crop Production |
J. Estrada | Spring Annual |
Agronomy | 2 |
BCH5045 Graduate Survey of Biochemistry |
T. Colquhoun | Spring Annual |
Environmental Horticulture | 4 |
NEM5004C Graduate Survey of Nematology |
P. Digennaro | Spring Annual |
Entomology and Nematology | 3 |
ENY5006 Graduate Survey of Entomology |
R. Baldwin C. Miller A. Auletta |
Fall, Spring Annual |
Entomology and Nematology | 2 |
ENY5006L Graduate Survey of Entomology Laboratory |
R. Baldwin C. Miller |
Fall, Spring, Summer Annual |
Entomology and Nematology | 1 |
GMS6231 Genomics and Bioinformatics |
M. Kirst S. Chen K. Balmant |
Spring Annual |
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology |
3 |
HOS5242 Genetic and Breeding of Vegetable Crops |
B. Rathinasabapathi | Spring Odd years |
Horticultural Sciences | 3 |
HOS6201 Breeding Perennial Cultivars |
J. Chaparro | Fall Odd years |
Horticultural Sciences | 3 |
HOS6236 Molecular Marker-Assisted Plant Breeding |
P. Munoz M. Resende K. Folta |
Fall Odd years |
Horticultural Sciences | 3 |
HOS6932 Horticultural Physiology |
G. Nunez | Fall Annual |
Horticultural Sciences | 3 |
PCB5065 Advanced Genetics |
Team taught L. Hannah (coord.) |
Fall Annual |
Horticultural Sciences | 4 |
PCB5530 Plant Molecular Biology and Genomics |
Team taught G. Peter (coord.) |
Fall Annual |
Horticultural Sciences | 3 |
PCB6685 Population Genetics |
C. Baer | Spring Annual |
Biology | 4 |
PLP5005C General Plant Pathology |
B. Richter | Fall Annual |
Plant Pathology | 4 |
PLP6291 Plant Disease Diagnosis |
C. Harmon | Spring Annual |
Plant Pathology | 3 |