Ph.D. Natural Resources
Problem Solving for Nature
Work alongside internationally recognized faculty leading natural resources research in pursuit of your degree and make an impact on the problems facing our natural world. Our research encompasses a wide range of natural resource disciplines and offers a thesis option.
Fast Facts:
- Choose research from a wide range of disciplines
- 78 credits required for this degree, where up to 30 credits can be transferred in
- Ready access to thousands of acres of working forests, rangelands and waterways
- Conduct research on 2.3 million pristine acres at the Taylor Wilderness Research Station
Biogeochemical Cycling and Ecophysiology
Ecology (theory, applied, modeling / community, organism, etc.)
Endangered Species
Environmental Education
Environmental Political Science, Attitudes and Behaviors
Extension
Fisheries Sciences
Forest Biometrics and Silviculture (including FBRI Fellowship)
Forest Operations
Forest Sciences (excl. operations and pathology)
Genetics and Molecular Ecology
Geomorphology, Hydrology, and Earth Sciences
Global Environmental Change
Human Dimensions
Natural Resource Economics
Pathology, Insects, and non-fire Disturbances
Policy Analysis and Land-Use Planning
Rangeland Sciences
Remote Sensing, GIS, and Ecosystem Modeling
Renewable Materials (incl. forest products)
Restoration and Regeneration (incl. nursery sciences)
Rural Community Development and Planning
Social Impact Assessment
Tribal and Traditional Knowledge
Water Resources
Wildland Fire Sciences
Wildlife Sciences
Admission to the doctoral program without completing a M.S. degree is possible with the agreement by the major professor and approval by the faculty who review an applicant’s admission materials.
The Ph.D. degree in CNR has one designation: “Natural Resources.” However, dissertation topics must be chosen from disciplinary areas within a department. A minimum of 78 graduate credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree, including the dissertation research, is required for the doctoral degree. Of these, at least 52 credit hours must be in courses numbered 500 or above, and at least 33 of the 78 credits must be in courses other than 600. The number of credits from the M.S. degree program that can count toward the Ph.D. is determined by the student’s graduate advisory committee, but not more than 10 actual thesis credits can be included and counted in the doctoral study plan. At least 39 of the minimum 78 credits must be in UI courses.