Student Assistantships

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The Arkansas Co-op Unit provides a variable number of Research Assistantships for students accepted into the Unit Program for graduate work towards an M.S. or Ph.D. within the Department of Biological Sciences. The number of Research Assistantships available depends upon the number of grants obtained by the Co-op Unit leaders; we are presently funding 13 graduate students but have funded as many as 26 students in the past. All graduate students applying for Unit Assistantships must also apply for and meet Graduate School and Department of Biological Sciences entrance and graduation requirements. Applicants are encouraged to apply to the Graduate School at the same time they apply for a Unit Research Assistantship.

Unit Research Assistantships are for the full year (12 months) at $12,000 for M.S. students and $15,000 for Ph.D. students. A full tuition waiver (out-of-state and in-state) is included with each assistantship. Students are expected to enroll in a full load of 6-10 graduate credit hours their first semester in the program while developing research ideas and complete the remaining course work while actively engaged in research. Assistantships will be renewed annually, depending satisfactory progress toward graduation, but will not exceed 2.5 years for M.S. candidates and 4 years for Ph.D. candidates.

Much of the character of the Co-op Unit research is determined by the interests of the graduate students, as well as the leaders. By the very nature of the Unit, most of the research will be field-oriented and include strong conservation and applied components. Graduated students typically find employment in state or federal conservation agencies, universities, or elect to continue their graduate education at the Ph.D. level.