The faculty and staff of the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Graduate Studies Committee

wish to welcome you to the EEB Graduate Program. We look forward to supporting your

progress towards a graduate degree in EEB. We encourage you to use this handbook

proactively throughout your studies as it is a summary of the university, department and

deadlines. Please feel free to ask our Graduate Program Administrator about any

deadlines, or issues you may have questions about.

The Graduate School website https://gradschool.utexas.edu/ is an excellent resource for

information on degree requirements, as well as policies for applying to graduate and

deadlines for thesis defenses and dissertation submissions. The Graduate School

Handbook can be accessed at https://catalog.utexas.edu/graduate/

The College of Natural Sciences (CNS) website for Graduate Education

https://cns.utexas.edu/graduate-education/ is another great resource for graduate

students. It covers college policies, graduate courses offered throughout all CNS graduate

programs, as well as professional development and career support options.

students who are advised or co-advised by a faculty member with an IB affiliation. The IB

Graduate Students Bill of Rights clarifies department-level rights not directly specified in the

Graduate Students Bill of Rights & Responsibilities passed by the UT Graduate Student

Assembly in 2015. The IB Graduate Students Bill of Rights is posted here:

https://integrativebio.utexas.edu/academics/graduate-program-resources/ib-graduate-

students-bill-of-rights

The Graduate Studies Committee consists of all faculty in the Department of Integrative

Biology, plus faculty from other departments whose interests overlap with the EEB GSC.

The GSC Chair is a faculty member who oversees GSC policies and GSC meetings, and

serves as liaison to the Graduate School and the College of Natural Sciences.

The Graduate Advisor is a faculty member of the EEB GSC who advises graduate

students, monitors their progress towards their degree, and serves as a liaison to the

Graduate School and the College of Natural Sciences.

The Graduate Program Administrator maintains student records, processes and monitors

student funding, and ensures forms and procedures are processed in a correct and timely

The Minority & LGBTQ+ Officers serve as liaison between the graduate students, the EEB

GSC, the Department of Integrative Biology, and the College of Natural Sciences.

Faculty members on the EEB Graduate Studies Committee can mentor EEB graduate

students, advise and vote on EEB policies, and serve on EEB GSC sub-committees and

dissertation committees. A list of current EEB GSC members is at

https://integrativebio.utexas.edu/component/cobalt/items/1-directory?Itemid=1441

EEB students can serve as representatives for the program. The representatives can

attend IB departmental meetings as well as EEB program meetings. The positions are

usually nominated and voted on amongst the graduate students every year at the

beginning of the fall semester. Contact information for the current EEB Graduate Student

Each EEB student receives a personalized education, under the supervision of a faculty

committee.

Each EEB student has a faculty member appointed as major professor (principal

investigator, PI) before arriving at UT. The major professor, or professors if co-advised, is

responsible for providing the student with academic guidance regarding coursework,

research, and the access needed to facilities and resources to conduct research. A major

professor must be on the EEB GSC. If a student elects to be co-advised, the second co-

advisor does not have to be an EEB-GSC member and does not have to be affiliated with

the university, although in the latter case the co-advisor must be approved by the EEB

Graduate Advisor and the Graduate School.

as the Dissertation Committee, the student needs to notify the Graduate Program

First year students may opt to intern in two or three labs during their first year with

approval of the relevant faculty. These internships (“rotations”) are not required, but are

available on an opt-in basis. Internships allow the student to learn a variety of research

perspectives and methods, and to ensure that they settle in a lab that best suits their

academic interests. Internships may be as simple as attending lab meetings, completing a

reading project under the guidance of a professor, or may entail field or lab work. If you

and a professor(s) decide on this option, you must notify the Graduate Advisor and

Graduate Program Administrator immediately.

student is required to develop and complete Part 2 of their Mentoring Plan in consultation

with the major professor, and receive approval by the Graduate Advisor. The Graduate

Administrator will provide the form for the Mentoring Plan Part 2 at the beginning of the

upon during the annual meeting by the student’s advisory Committee. Both the Annual

EEB Graduate Student Evaluation Committee in its annual review of graduate student

Each student must complete course work that emphasizes quantitative skills. Courses that

satisfy this requirement may include non-EEB courses in areas such as mathematics,

statistics, computer programming, bioinformatics, GIS, or EEB courses with heavy

This requirement can be fulfilled by registering for seminar, reading, or lecture courses.

This is in addition to the BIO 389D, BIO 384L and four lecture course requirements (at

least one of which is a quantitative course) listed above.

EEB expects that graduate students will regularly attend lectures given in departmental

seminar series. EEB students should, at a minimum, regularly attend the:

departmental seminars during fall and spring semesters.

mostly given by local researchers, focusing on animal behavior, neurobiology,

behavioral physiology, behavioral genomics, and related topics.

series for the MBS Department.

with the oral exam, or to delay until an improved research proposal is available.

should feel obligated to provide written feedback within the proscribed time frame.

Qualifying Exam, the committee will decide between these options:

i. Pass general-knowledge part without conditions, and continue to discussion of

ii. Pass general-knowledge part with condition(s) to be recorded by the chair of the

iii. Pass with condition(s) to be recorded by the Chair of the Qualifying Exam, but

Qualifying Exam (minimum 1-hour duration, ideally 1-2 hours to allow sufficient

more time should be allocated for discussion of the Dissertation Proposal (1-2

hours) than for assessment of general knowledge (no more than 1 hour).

back before the committee to discuss the results of the examination. Approval of the

dissertation proposal should occur no later than the end of fifth long semester in residence,

with admission to Candidacy no later than the sixth long semester.

The Qualifying Examination Results form must be signed by all committee members. This

form is completed through DocuSign and this process must be initiated by the graduate

student after the Qualifying Exam. The student should go to the webpage with EEB forms,

https://integrativebio.utexas.edu/eeb-graduate-program/current-students-eeb/forms and

Work for the Doctoral Degree.

When the student has passed the Qualifying Exam, the Dissertation Proposal has been

accepted by the committee, and the Qualifying Examination Results form (see preceding

paragraph) has been signed via DocuSign by all members of the student’s committee, the

student must return the signed form of the Qualifying Exam Results to the Graduate

Following the Qualifying Exam, each student should also check with the Graduate

Program Administrator to be sure all the degree requirements (e.g., coursework) have

been or will be met well in advance of the Dissertation Defense.

All students are expected to make reasonable progress toward the degree. Once a

student has been admitted to Candidacy for the Ph.D., the Dissertation Committee will

meet with the student annually to review progress. It is the student’s responsibility to set

up these annual meetings. After each of the annual meetings, the student will prepare a

written summary of recommendations that emerged from the meeting, the Annual

Dissertation Committee Meeting Self-Report. See https://integrativebio.utexas.edu/eeb-

each year. Together with the Annual Student Self-Assessment (also due November 1

each year), the Annual Dissertation Committee Meeting Self-Report is used by the EEB

Graduate Student Evaluation Committee in its annual review of graduate student progress,

and both reports are important evidence when the Committee awards merit fellowships

and research and travel funds. Flagrant or repeated violation of filing the Student Self-

Assessment and the Committee Meeting Self-Report may affect a students’ eligibility for

TA/RA appointments or fellowships. A formal meeting of the Dissertation Committee can

be requested at any time by the student, or any member of the Dissertation Committee.

During the semester the student intends to graduate and defend the Dissertation, a

Graduate Application must be submitted online with the Graduate School:

https://gradschool.utexas.edu/academics/theses-and-dissertations/doctoral-candidacy

This application is due early in the respective semester, so if you think you may defend, go

graduate again the following semester. The Graduate Application is free, and a student

can apply multiple times, if necessary.

Each student must meet with their Dissertation Committee on an annual basis once

This form is required by the Graduate School, and information how to prepare the digital

submission of this form, deadlines, and submission instructions are here:

https://gradschool.utexas.edu/academics/theses-and-dissertations

At this point close to defending the Dissertation, all deadlines and required paperwork are

prescribed by the Graduate School, not the EEB Graduate Program.

Following the procedures prescribed by the Graduate School, a student should give copies

of the complete Dissertation to all committee members at least four weeks prior to the

defense. The Request for Final Oral Examination must be signed by all members of the

committee and the Graduate Advisor, then submitted to the Graduate School at least two

The oral Dissertation Defense consists of two parts. The first part is a public seminar that

is open to members of the University and the public at large. Immediately following that

seminar, the student meets privately with the Dissertation Committee to answer any

questions that the committee members may have, and to discuss possible corrections or

amendments to the written Dissertation. Once all corrections have been made to the

Dissertation and at least four members of the committee approve, the entire Dissertation

Committee and then also the EEB GSC Chair or Graduate Advisor need to sign the Report

of Dissertation Committee form (via DocuSign) to notify the Graduate School Dean of

successful completion of the defense and all degree requirements. As with other

to three years.

30 hours of required coursework. The student needs to write a Master’s thesis that

is read by two members of the faculty, the Major Advisor and one other member of

the EEB GSC.

minimally 30 hours of required coursework. Instead of writing a thesis, the student

student. The report is read and signed by two members of the faculty, the Major

Advisor and one other Reader. The Reader does not have to be a member of the

EEB GSC, and the Reader does not have to be a faculty member, but the Reader

must have the Ph.D. credentials to evaluate the Master’s Report properly. The

Graduate Advisor has to approve the appointment of a Reader.

conference course (e.g., a non-lecture graduate course focused on discussion of

readings) to fulfill the 15-hour requirement.

389D Subjects & Skills in Biological Sciences. This is a core course for first-

semester students in the EEB graduate program and is co-taught with the PB first

year students (see above).

major area of EEB.

of Work must be submitted (see above guidelines for online submission of a Program of

Work for a Ph.D. Dissertation). Once complete, a student may then submit the graduation

application.

Your thesis must be read and approved by the Supervising Professor (Major Advisor) and

one other Reader. The Reader does not have to be a member of the EEB GSC, and the

Reader does not have to be a faculty member, but the Reader must have the PhD

credentials to evaluate the Master Report properly. The Graduate Advisor has to approve

the appointment of a Reader.

In most cases, all EEB students must be enrolled full-time during the fall and spring

In some cases, students do not have to be registered in the summer. For these few

exceptions, the Graduate Program Administrator will inform students beforehand if this is

an option. When in doubt, students should register in time, to avoid registering late and

incurring a late fee.

Regardless of which semester it is, the University will not pay more than the full-time cost

for registration. If you have more than 9 hours in the long semester, or 3 hours in the

summer, contact your Graduate Program Administrator for advice in meeting the desired 9

Employment as a teaching assistant (TA) or Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) qualifies

Between the University, CNS and the Department, tuition is covered in full for the first 5-

years. The payments usually happen in stages, as different accounts and departments

cover different parts of the tuition bill. If you owe additional fees that are not covered under

All students must confirm their tuition bill after all payments are applied or registration will

be cancelled. To confirm your registration, go to the tuition payment website and click the

“CONFIRM” button. The Graduate Program Administrator will send you a notice when it is

time to confirm, but if you happen to log on and read the prompt to “confirm”, please go

ahead and confirm. If your tuition bill is NOT confirmed by the 5:00 pm deadline, then your

registration will be cancelled, and you will be charged a late fee when your re-register. In

this case, the student is responsible for covering any late fees accrued.

The Graduate School requires all students to be continuously enrolled for at least 3 hours

petition.

After that date, students must petition the Graduate School for late add/drop, but such

petitions are rarely approved. If a student must drop a course after the deadline and the

IB graduate students are not allowed to have outside employment (e.g., part-time positions

employment is related to their role as graduate students, such as paid grader positions for

courses taught at the University, but such employment is possible only after the completion

of the first year. International students are not eligible for additional employment beyond

their current 20 hour/week GRA or TA appointment. Before accepting any additional

employment, students should first consult with their supervising professor and inform the

Graduate Program Administrator. Students are required to disclose all outside activity that

Prior to holding a Teaching Assistant (TA) position, the student must take a short training

workshop offered prior to the start of their first semester during which a student serves as

TA. The workshop is typically held the Friday during the week before classes start.

Students are considered for available TA positions by the request of each student.

Students who serve as TA in one semester must reapply for the next long semester. Once

a student accepts a TA position offered by The Biology Instructional Office (once the

appointment and automatically find a replacement.

Appointments are processed by semesters, which are broken down as:

Each semester, a few grader appointments are available through the Biology Instructional

Office. These appointments are made at the beginning of each semester, and all students

have an opportunity to request a grader appointment in addition to TA or GRA support, as

long as the student does not exceed the appointment limit. The maximum number of

hours allowed for TA/GRA appointments is 30 hours. The two exceptions to this rule are:

semester throughout their graduate studies.

Fellowship. Nominees for these awards are selected by the Committee based on the

strength of their application and on their records of performance. The Graduate School

makes the final selection of the Fellows; these are highly competitive fellowships.

Students with strong accomplishments in research and broader impacts should apply for

federally funded fellowships, such as the NSF GRFP, NRSA fellowships from NIH, Howard

Hughes Medical Institute International Student Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. We encourage all

students to apply to such outside fellowships or international fellowships, and the required

deadlines about these fellowship possibilities.