OEB: Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program

OEB is an interdepartmental graduate program at UMass, with more than 75 Faculty from the Departments of Biology, Environmental Conservation, Microbiology, Psychology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Kinesiology, Mathematics & Statistics, Anthropology, Geosciences, and the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass, as well Faculty from Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Harvard Forest, Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, the Massachusetts Division of Fish & Wildlife, the USGS, and the USDA.

OEB is a friendly community, committed to increasing representation and retaining a diverse body of students. In the words of some students, the best things about OEB are:

• The people
  • “Everyone is so enthusiastic and motivated”
  • “People are friendly and willing to help one another”
  • “The people are friendly, passionate, and warm”
• The community
  • “The OEB community is incredibly collaborative and friendly. I love how folks wear their science-nerdiness on their sleeves. It’s a small group, so everyone knows each other. It’s awesome how inclusive the community is, does such fantastic science and scicomm, and is so encouraging and supportive. It’s a fun group of researchers, and who can resist scientists with a sense of humor?!”
  • “OEB is extremely passionate about the program and this fosters a more inclusive community than most graduate programs”
  • “The sense of community and willingness of great people to work together on a wide variety of things.”
  • “Both the faculty and the students are very kind and helpful. Participating in events like the Friday seminar, bbq's and non-holiday parties builds a sense of community. By helping each other through studying for orals, preparing talks (GSSS), core courses, stats, etc. we raise the quality and profile of OEB in the larger scientific community. The broad spectrum of OEB students and faculty prepare students for conversing with people from different fields (such as one might encounter on a job interview in a Biology Dept.).”