GRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAM
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Students may participate in the Integrative Photosynthesis Research Training Program from any suitable graduate degree program. Their backgrounds and academic preparation are, therefore, expected to be diverse and the detailed curriculum of each student is tailored to his/her individual needs within the guiding principle of gaining an interdisciplinary perspective on photosynthesis research.
The Research Training Program incorporates proven educational principles based on many years of experience with interdisciplinary photosynthesis research and graduate training. The ongoing research of the participating faculty is well established in this mode, and provides an ideal foundation on which to build. The interdisciplinary nature is emphasized at two levels. In their technical and intellectual training, students and postdoctoral associates are encouraged to cross traditionally distinct boundaries of photosynthesis research by coordinating projects between at least two separate laboratories. At the conceptual level, all participants are required throughout their training to participate in and contribute to an interactive pro-seminar on Photosynthesis in a Global Setting. Students and faculty explore ways of addressing current areas of interest or controversy by an interdisciplinary approach. When appropriate to this concept, visiting speakers from the Photosynthesis Research Seminar series are asked to lead this discussion in addition to presenting their invited seminar.
Active involvement in multidisciplinary research is emphasised from the beginning of the training period. In the first year of their program, graduate students participate in three half-semester (8-week) rotations in the laboratories of participating faculty (Photosynthesis Research Techniques) selected to provide coherence for a possible collaborative, multidisciplinary research program, and take the photosynthesis lecture course. Also in the first year, students take four individual tutorials with participating faculty. In addition to giving a thorough and comprehensive grounding in all aspects of photosynthesis, this curriculum provides students with an introduction to each faculty member and to their individual expertise. Attendance of the Photosynthesis Research Seminar series and participation in the pro-seminar on Photosynthesis in a Global Setting is required throughout the training period.
Beyond these program requirements, the detailed curriculum of each student is determined by their educational background, their developing research program, and the diverse requirements of the graduate degree programs.
