Title: Re: paleonet Search for graduate
programs
Original message:
Dear All,
I am a year-two student in Hong Kong, planning for my
post-graduate studies. I am deeply interested in paleoecology
and want to have a further study in this field. As I
searched through the web, I found the information of the graduate
programs in paleoecology were scattered around. Sometimes, I
knew there were expertise in a particular university but I could find
the graduate program. Would someone please suggest a better way
to look for the information?
Thanks a lot for your help.
Yours sincerely,
Ivy
Reply:
Hello,
I think
that the reason for the difficulty you encountered in your search lies
in the structure of science. I doubt that there are graduate
programs in paleoecology as such. Paleoecology is a
sub-discipline of paleontology (sensu lato = in the widest sense) and
paleontology is part of geology/Earth science/geosciences.
However, the paleoecology of specific groups might also be studied in
biology, botany, or anthropology departments etc. Most
paleoecologists will be in Earth science departments or environmental
science departments. The next question is: paleoecology of
what? Are you interested in the terrestrial realm or the marine
realm? Invertebrates, vertebrates, humans, plants, microfossils, or
palynomorphs? In which time interval (Precambrian, Early, Middle
or Late Paleozoic, pre-angiosperm-Mesozoic, Cretaceous,
Tertiary, Quaternary, or just the last 100,000 years)?
If you are
interested in terrestrial paleoecology I can recommend our
department. We have strong groups in vertebrate
paleontology/paleoecology of the Mesozoic, paleobotanical
paleoecology/paleoclimatology of the Late Paleozoic and Tertiary, and
forest ecology/paleoecology.
You should identify at least
five departments you are interested in that have professors you might
like to study under. The competition in the application
processes is quite high. Departments can only admit a low
percentage of all applicants for graduate studies (in all the
subdisciplines) and you have to apply in many places to get accepted
somewhere.
Regards,
Hermann Pfefferkorn
--
*************************************************************
Hermann W. Pfefferkorn
Professor of Geology and Environmental Science (Paleobotany)
Department of Earth and Environmental Science
University of Pennsylvania
240 S. 33rd St.
Phone: 215-898-5156
Philadelphia, PA
19104-6316
Fax:
215-898-0964
U.S.A.
e-mail:hpfeffer@sas.upenn.edu