Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Graduate Students
Graduate students are the lifeblood of modern scientific research. These students are the hands/eyes/ears of the faculty, pursuing the research agenda under the mentorship of the faculty. Graduate fellowships allow departments to recruit the very best graduate students in the country. Graduate fellows are future renowned scientists who attend Rice in their formative years to pursue their area of interest. Our graduate students serve as mentors and guides for our undergraduates as they come into the laboratories to learn how to do basic research; they serve as teaching assistants in our undergraduate laboratories; they tutor, provide help sessions, and help guide the undergraduates in our courses. Indeed, they are a part of the entire vertical team—undergraduate, graduates, post-docs, and faculty—that undertakes the research challenge. Our graduate programs create leaders and experts in their fields, and their success reflects positively on Rice. For more information visit:
Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies
Graduate Student Demographics 2008
For more information on Graduate studies, please refer to each department:
Biochemistry & Cell Biology
Chemistry
Earth Science
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Mathematics
Physics & Astronomy
2009 Grad School Programs and Support
Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) - Support programs and professional development at more than 150 colleges and universities
IGERT Graduate Programs - Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programs offering stipends $30,000 per year + tuition and expenses
Postdoctoral Fellows
Postdoctoral fellows form the backbone of the basic science research enterprise. Fully prepared by their graduate study, these talented up- and-coming scientists are attracted to the Wiess School of Natural Sciences based on its reputation for excellence, stellar faculty, innovative research, and its interdisciplinary focus. Competitive endowed fellowships enable Rice to attract and retain the best and the brightest scientists in their fields to ensure that our research output remains accordingly competitive. Without this valuable intellectual capital, our laboratories and research centers would lose traction and momentum. Further, the post-doctoral population makes a significant contribution by working with and teaching undergraduate and graduate students, underscoring its importance in the educational mission of the university.
Graduates of the Weiss School of Natural Sciences will face new challenges because of the current revolution in communication and information technologies and increased emphasis on teamwork, collaboration, and accountability. Our mission is to equip students with the skills for articulate, persuasive communication, both written and oral. To accomplish this mission, we collaborate with faculty in the School of Natural Sciences to plan and integrate communication instruction into existing courses. We also offer an undergraduate writing course for students in natural sciences as well as workshops for graduate students, teaching assistants, writing mentors, and presentation coaches.