Departmental Unit № 1
Environmental Studies Program & Department of Biology
PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Environmental Science Focus)
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: 100% full tuition scholarship + 12-month living stipend (~$37,000–$40,000/yr) + university health insurance package covered for all admitted doctoral students through GSAS fellowships.
Fall Priority Deadline: January 15 (Fall Priority)
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100 or IELTS 7.0
MS in Ecology (Thesis Option)
Graduate Teaching Assistantships Available
Funding Reality: Admitted thesis MS students can receive partial to full tuition remission and TA stipends.
Application Deadline: February 1
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (1 Profiles)
Prof. Colleen Hitchcock
Associate Professor of Ecology and Environmental Studies
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She uses millions of smartphone citizen-science photos and GPS records to map how climate warming and concrete heat islands are altering local wildlife and urban wetland habitats.
Core Research Topics: Citizen science spatial data, urban environmental monitoring, GIS spatial ecology, climate change phenology, biodiversity mapping.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Leveraging crowd-sourced spatial environmental observations (iNaturalist) with spatial statistics to track urban biodiversity shifts, urban heat island impacts, and vernal pool wetland dynamics across New England (NSF / National Geographic 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, R spatial packages, citizen science API data extraction, spatial point process modeling.
Recruiting Context: Expert in spatial citizen science and urban ecosystem monitoring.
Candidate Match:
GISSpatial StatisticsEnvironmental Monitoring
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in spatial citizen science data analytics, urban wetland GIS mapping, and biodiversity monitoring in your group."