Wesleyan University occupies
an unusual niche in American higher education between the major
research universities and the liberal arts colleges. In addition
to its role as one of the nation's leading undergraduate
institutions, it offers doctoral programs in the sciences and
mathematics that have allowed Wesleyan to develop resources more
frequently found at larger universities. Our faculty is deeply
committed to research. Its members have an excellent record of
winning outside grant support and publish regularly in leading
journals. Few, if any, institutions of Wesleyan's size can match
its laboratory facilities which have constantly been improved and
expanded over the years. Yet the graduate program retains a
small-college flavor. No large laboratory staffs stand between the
student and his or her faculty advisor.
The biological sciences have grown and flourished since the
inception of a doctoral program in the 1960s. Two departments now
exist to cover the many aspects of the life sciences, the
Department of Biology and the Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry. Such a diversity is rare in an Institution of
Wesleyan's size and reflects the willingness of the administration
and Wesleyan faculty to support these endeavors.
The Department of Biology has active research programs in cell and
developmental biology, neurobiology and evolution, with
significant overlaps between these programs. All three areas have
a strong genetic component. Research in the Department of
Molecular Biology & Biochemistry emphasizes the molecular and
physical basis of biological processes such as DNA replication,
gene expression and development. Recombinant DNA technology is an
important tool in most of this research. The two departments have
extensive interactions, including adjoining and shared space,
collaborative research and teaching efforts, joint journal clubs
and a shared programs of seminars given each week by outside
speakers. Graduate training and research in Molecular Biophysics
is being offered through an interdepartmental program between the
Departments of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry,
Chemistry and
Physics.
The total number of faculty members in the departments of Biology
and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry is twenty three, with forty
two graduate students, five postdoctoral fellows and nine
technical support staff members. New faculty members have moved
quickly to establish research programs, joining their colleagues,
all of whom are active in research. Faculty research programs
receive more than $1 million annually in grant support from the
National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation,
the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the
State of Connecticut and other agencies.
The Hughes Program in the Life Sciences, funded by three
successive grants totaling $3.4 M from the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, has made it possible to initiate a broad spectrum of
research and teaching activities at the undergraduate/graduate
interface. A Training Grant in Molecular Biophysics, awarded by
the National Institutes of Health for the last ten years totaling
more than one million dollars, supports graduate trainees and a
range of educational activities in this area. Similar teaching and
research foci exist in Developmental Biology and the
Neurosciences. These are areas to which there has been a strong
commitment at Wesleyan for many years and which are currently
undergoing active growth and development.
Graduate students have access to high-quality research facilities,
including: transmission and scanning electron microscopes; a 400
MHz and a 500 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer;
preparative ultracentrifuges; computer graphics; an ultraviolet
resonance Raman Spectrometer; UV, visible and IR
spectrophotometers; an electron paramagnetic resonance
spectrometer; a Storm phosphorimager; fluorescence spectroscopy
and microscopy; high-pressure liquid chromatography equipment;
scintillation counters; a DNA synthesizer; several DNA thermal
cyclers; modern electrophysiological equipment with computers for
on-line data analysis; animal rooms; a greenhouse; and more.
Individual laboratories are well-equipped, thanks to extensive
outside funding.
Above all, Wesleyan offers a supportive yet challenging
environment where graduate students work closely with faculty
members. The beginning graduate student is introduced to the
research interests in the departments through practica in two or
more labs. Also, the departments provide funds for graduate
students to work during the summer at other laboratories, such as
the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., and Cold
Spring Harbor Laboratories in New York. Perhaps because the
doctoral program is small and relatively young, faculty in the
biological sciences are committed to helping graduate students
achieve their best. Financial support is generous: All graduate
students receive 12-month stipends ($21,269 in 2006-2007) plus
tuition and dependency allowances throughout their stay in the
program.
Graduates of Wesleyan's Ph.D. program have an excellent record of
obtaining first-rate academic and industrial positions. A partial
list of positions currently held by recent graduates includes
postdoctoral fellowships at Yale, Los Alamos National Laboratory,
Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Washington
University, University of California at San Francisco, Cold Spring
Harbor, California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, University of Texas Medical Center,
Columbia University, tenure-track faculty positions at Tufts
Medical School, University of Tennessee Medical School, Johns
Hopkins, University of Illinois College of Medicine, University of
Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, San
Diego State University, and research positions at Pfizer Corp.,
Bristol Meyers Corp., Hagedorn Institute for Diabetes Research,
San Francisco School of Medicine, Institute for Cancer Research
(Fox Chase), Integrated Genetics Inc., University of Connecticut,
University Medical and Dental School of New Jersey-Robert Wood
Johnson Medical School, Sayres Research Institute, Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center, and Connaught Research Institute.
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