Image: Our department offers a broad spectrum of educational and research opportunities in plant biology. The Plant Biology faculty, staff and students publish in top journals, are well-funded by extramural grants, present their research in seminars and conferences all over the world, and serve on a variety of grant review panels and editorial boards. Many faculty have been honored with international, national and University of Georgia awards. The tradition of excellence has provided the foundation for a remarkable number of our graduate and postdoctoral students to advance to productive careers in academics and industry. From molecules to ecosystems, we embrace the entire spectrum of plant biology. Strength in plant biology spans the entire campus. Research collaborations include those with faculty and students in the UGA Department of Genetics, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the Institute of Ecology. Also, our cellular and molecular faculty and students participate in seminars, symposia and retreat meetings sponsored by The Plant Center. Several faculty specialize in teaching and provide guidance on developing excellence in education skills. We are committed to the career development of our students. We focus on research training, but we also take teaching and communication skills seriously. Our students benefit from courses in teaching methods, grant writing, and popular science writing. Our students may choose an intensive teaching internship and we include teaching-based classes and seminars in our graduate curricula. Our graduate students are involved. Through the Plant Biology Graduate Student Association our students participate in the administration of the Department. Student-elected representatives attend faculty meetings and have a vote on most matters considered by the faculty, including new faculty hires. The faculty sends a representative to the meetings of the Graduate Student Association for the purpose of fostering communication between the graduate students and the faculty. Our graduate students ranked us in the top quartile for student satisfaction in the National Doctoral Program Survey. The success of Plant Biology's training effectiveness is most convincingly evidenced from the career successes of our alumni.
