Entomology, PhD

The Department of Entomology has a rich legacy of vibrant scholarship and innovative education and outreach, with a strong commitment to graduate education. Individual graduate programs are planned by students in consultation with their advisory committees and the Director of Graduate Studies. Entomology, like all agricultural and biological sciences disciplines, continues to evolve and integrate state-of-the art technology and new research perspectives with insect biology. Entomology research is unified by a focus on insects and their arthropod relatives, with many research groups creatively merging basic and applied biology. Graduate study and research opportunities are available in a diverse range of areas of entomology, including insect behavior, ecology, evolution, systematics, molecular biology, physiology, genetics and pest management. Our research labs study insects living in a wide diversity of environments, including agricultural systems (pests of many Kentucky crops), urban environments (pests of lawns and horticultural plants, insects living in human structures, and insects that transmit disease), and a wide diversity of natural habitats (such as the ecology, evolution and behavior of many non-pest species).

Admission Requirements

A Bachelor’s degree with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 and GPA of 3.25 in all graduate level work are required. Graduate Record Examination scores are not required. Applicants whose native language is not English must have a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a minimum score of 79 on the TOEFL‐iBT. A minimum overall band score of 6.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) may be used in lieu of a TOEFL score. The Program requires three letters of recommendation. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission. These minimum requirements may be waived in exceptional cases if sufficient additional evidence is presented regarding the ability of the student to do graduate work. Admission to the Graduate Program in Entomology does not automatically guarantee financial assistance to the student.

Degree Requirements

Students are required to prepare a formal written research proposal encompassing a thorough literature review, clear statement of objectives, and materials and methods of the project. A research proposal seminar will be presented to the Department describing the proposed research. An exit seminar, usually presented during the last semester of the student’s tenure, is required. In addition, the following requirements must be completed:

36 credit hours prior to qualifying examination (Students who have completed a Masters degree can petition to waive 18 credit hours of pre-qualifying examination credits).
A course in general entomology. Students who have not had such a course before enrolling in the Entomology graduate program must take ENT 300 or ENT 500.
A graduate course in data analysis. The most appropriate course will depend on the student’s area of interest. Courses that meet this requirement include any STA 500 or 600-level course or PLS 630 - Agri-Environmental Experimental Design And Analysis , BIO 520 / INF - Bioinformatics , BST 635 - Databases And Sas Programming or BST 535 - Introduction To R Programming . Other courses may be substituted with approval of the student’s advisory committee.

Core Areas

Completion of courses in two of three Core Areas. The number of major core credit hours will depend based on the course(s) selected to fulfill the statistics requirement and whether students take ENT 770 (requires enrollment for 4 semesters) for 0 or 1 credit hour each enrollment.

Entomology, PhD

Admission Requirements

Degree Requirements

Core Areas

Insect Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

Insect Molecular Biology, Physiology and Genetics

Pest Management and Applied Ecology