Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University

Dept. of Ecology and Evolution
State University of New York
at Stony Brook
650 Life Sciences Building
Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245
Phone: 1-631-632-8600
FAX: 1-631-632-7626

Graduate Study in Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook

Founded in 1969, the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook is one of the oldest departments of its kind in the country. Throughout its history, the Department has been recognized as one of the finest in the fields of evolutionary biology and ecology. The most recent study of graduate programs by the National Research Council ranked Stony Brook in the top ten ecology and evolution programs nationally. Particular areas of strength include population genetics, evolutionary ecology, molecular evolution and phylogenetics, plant-plant and plant-animal interactions, marine ecology, primate evolution and behavior, and evolutionary theory. The faculty includes two members of the National Academy of Sciences, four members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, five past presidents of the Society for the Study of Evolution and the American Society of Naturalists, and four past editors of these societies' journals.

Several text books written by Ecology and Evolution faculty members are the standards in their field: Sokal and Rohlf's Biometry and Levinton's Marine Biology. In addition, several faculty members have written books that have helped shape modern ecology and evolution, including George William's classic Adaptation and Natural Selection, Slobodkin's Growth and Regulation of Animal Populations, and Sokal and Sneath's Numerical Taxonomy. Stony Brook has been the home of the Quarterly Review of Biology since its inception.

Graduates of the Ph.D. Program at Stony Brook have gone on to a variety of successful careers, including faculty positions at a variety of prominent research institutions in the U.S. and abroad, as well as positions with conservation organizations, small colleges, consulting firms, and various governmental agencies.

The Program faculty currently consists of 18 (soon to be 20) members of the Department of Ecology and Evolution, as well as 13 members of other Departments on campus, including Anatomy, Anthropology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Marine Sciences, Neurobiology and Behavior, Psychology, and Sociology. At any one time, there are about 40 graduate students in the Program. The Ecology and Evolution brochure provides additional descriptive information.