Interdepartmental Genetics Graduate Program - M.S./Ph.D.

Learning outcomes

You are nearing the end of your graduate training and you are looking ahead to what is next when you complete your Ph.D. or M.S. training in genetics. What kinds of opportunities and employment are out there?

Most of the Ph.D. students go on to post docs and from the post docs into industry or are affliated with Universities. M.S. students go on to Ph.D. programs or work as research technicians in industry or are affiliated with higher education institutions.

The Interdepartmental Genetics graduate program began in 1992 and has graduated approximately 150 students. On average, 90 graduate students are enrolled in the program at all times.

Some of the genetics graduate students have gone on to faculty positions at Cornell University (NY), Ewha Women's University and Kon-Kuk University (South Korea), Agricultural College (Bapatla, India), University of Tennessee, University of Texas at San Antonio, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, California Polytechnical State University, and the University of Georgia. Two students are employed as faculty at community colleges-- Iowa Lakes Community College and Iowa Central Community College.

One Ph.D. graduate went on to the University of Iowa Law School with the intention of becoming a patent attorney (expected graduation Dec 2006). Two M.S. students went on to Genetic Counseling programs and are now working in this field. One student is now a DVM. One student started a biotech company.

Some of the genetics graduate students accepted jobs or post docs working as research scientists and technicians at unversities and in industry: Entelos Inc, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Louisville, Donald Danforth Plant Science, Eli Lilly and Company, Affymetrix, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, USDA, University of Chicago, Development Center for Biotechnology (Taiwan), DeKalb Genetics, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, Triangle Park NC, Vector Tobacco, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Monsanto, U.S. Forest Service, University of California-Berkeley, Iowa State University, NIH (Bethesda), Norwich Research Park (Great Britain), Immusol, Dow AgroSciences, Scottish Crop Rsearch Institute, State College (PA), University of New Mexico, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Scripps Research Institute, University of Minnesota, Arizona Biomedical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor, University of Alabama, Chiron Corporation, McGill University (Canada), Ceres, Dupont, University of Nebraska, Emory University, NSF, Incyte Phaarmaceuticals, Salk Institute, Northwestern University of Medicine, Peace Corps, Brandeis University, Syngenta Biotechnology, DeKalb Genetics, Harvard, Parke-Davis, TIGR Institute for Genomic Research, Mayo Clinic, Cereon Genomics, Karolinska Institute (Sweden), Bar-Harbor Maine, Oregon State, University of California-San Francisco, Axcell Coporation, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Indiana University, National Animal Disease Lab, University of California-Irvine, Proxlexys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Des Moines University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, University of Missouri--Columbia, Molecular Express, Phytodyne and Johns Hopkins University.

Job titles include: post doc, research technician, research fellow, research associate, assistant professor, lab manager, instructor, facility manager, assistant scientist, associated scientist, technician, vice president for research, staff research associate, lecturer, science lab technician, clinical technician, genetic counselor, lab equipment sales, research geneticist, veterinary clinic technician, and senior research technician.

Our students after completing their degrees have gone on to research in the biological and biomedical sciences, maize genomics, forage and range grasses, internal medicine, HIV, immunology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, biochemical science, eye disease research, plant sciences, biological informatics, molecular and cell biology, neurobiology, diabetes research, cancer research, microbiology, animal disease, genetics and plant breeding, biology, computational biology, biostatistician, molecular informatics, India bioseed research, apoptosis, diabetes, immunobiology, retrotransposons, plant pathology, maize genetics, modulation of ion channels, potato late blight disease resistant genes, pediatrics research, Arabidopsis based research, genetic aspects of neurological disorders, C elegans based research, animal genomics, aquaculture genomics, muscle physiology, animal disease, genotyping services and surgical oncology, weed science and management, micro RNAs, small interfering RNAs in plant biotechnology, human viruses, and intracellular signaling in cancer.

Participating Departments

Agronomy

Animal Science

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology

Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology

Entomology

Food Science and Human Nutrition

Horticulture

Genetics, Development and Cell Biology

Natural Resource Ecology and Management

Plant Pathology

Statistics

Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine

Veterinary Pathology