GRADUATE STUDENTS (MS + PHD)

Overview

The VMBS houses the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) Graduate Program, the Science & Technology Journalism master’s program, the Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology master’s program, and the Interdisciplinary Degree Program of Toxicology. The largest cohort of graduate students in the VMBS belongs to the BIMS Graduate Program, through which students pursue a pre-professional master’s degree with a non-thesis concentration, a research master’s degree with a thesis concentration, or a doctoral degree.

FY22 Admissions Profile

The BIMS Graduate Program and the additional master’s and doctoral degrees offered through the VMBS have attracted a diverse and qualified applicant pool. As the principal major with four research tracks and a separate pre-professional concentration, the BIMS Graduate Program had 227 students enrolled in Fall 2021, including 98 Master of Science non-thesis option (MS-NTO), 17 Master of Science thesis option (MS-THO), and 112 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students.

The Interdisciplinary Degree Program of Toxicology enrolled 27 students, including 1 Master of Science thesis option (MS-THO) and 26 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students.

The Science & Technology Journalism master’s program and the Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology master’s program enrolled 13 and 5 students respectively.

There are also students from 4 other Interdisciplinary programs whose PI is in the VMBS, including 1 BIOT student, 10 GENE students, 1 NRSC student, and 2 EEBL students. Among the graduate students in all VMBS graduate programs for FY2022, Black students comprised 3.85% of the cohort of graduate students, which matches the overall graduate student population of Texas A&M University. Additionally, Hispanic or Latino/a students comprised 17.83% of the VMBS graduate programs for FY2022, substantially higher than the overall Hispanic and Latino/a Texas A&M graduate student enrollment, which is approximately 10%.

Graduation

During FY 2022, 115 students graduated with a master’s or doctoral degree from the VMBS. The percentage of Black and Hispanic or Latino/a students who celebrated their graduation was 3.48% and 20.87% respectively, which generally matches the enrollment profile and reflects our vision for equity and inclusion that should lead to persistence and graduation of underrepresented minorities.

FY22 Graduate Mentoring Highlight: Sam Stroupe, a Ph.D. student, had the opportunity to work with Dr. James Derr in his lab. Stroupe was the first author of a study from Derr’s lab that revealed the strongest evidence to date that all bison in North America carry multiple small, but clearly identifiable, regions of DNA that originated from domestic cattle. As Stroupe points out, the findings show that we can uncover many historical details regarding the past histories of a species and use this information to provide informed stewardship in establishing conservation policies in the future.

Graduate Student Orientation

Incoming graduate students to the college participated in a face-to-face orientation experience that provided the following comprehensive trainings: biosafety compliance, teaching, mentor-mentee relationships, diversity and inclusion, self-care and wellness, goal-setting and motivation, and university and program requirements. These students also participated in an exciting team building program at the Texas A&M ChallengeWorks facility to encourage comradery and collegiality.