PhD Requirements

The mission of the VDPAM PhD Program is to promote research, disseminate knowledge, and create future leaders in the area of Population Sciences in Animal Health.

By nature, research and training in Population Sciences is cross-disciplinary with other graduate programs at ISU, e.g., agricultural and biosystems engineering, animal science, animal behavior and welfare, bioinformatics and computational biology, ecology and evolutionary biology, economics, genetics and genomics, immunobiology, veterinary microbiology, veterinary pathology, statistics, and toxicology.

The purview of the program is broadly inclusive (wildlife, companion animal, livestock and poultry populations), with emphasis on Iowa livestock and poultry. 

The objective of the program is to train future leaders and create/disseminate knowledge in the area of Population Sciences in Animal Health.  Program graduates will be prepared to respond to health and welfare issues in animal populations through research, education, clinical medicine, extension, and outreach.

The program is structured and administered in accordance with the policies and rules established by the Iowa State University Graduate College.  In brief, the student's work and progress will be under the supervision of a major professor and a Program of Study committee. Successful completion of the program will be achieved through the defense of a doctoral dissertation and completion of a minimum of 72 credits consistent with the following:  

Required courses (total of 20 credits):

A. Basic required courses:

B. Additional required (basic) courses (select at least 3 out of 4):

C. Additional required (advanced) courses (select at least 2 out of 4):

* courses currently in the process of being approved.

Elective courses: To be selected from ISU Graduate level courses in consultation with the student's Program of Study committee.  At least 6 credits of elective courses are required, achieving a cumulative total of at least 26 course credits.