Master's Program
The Department of Biology offers one graduate program leading to the Master of Science degree in Biology. Our graduate students in the program specialize in areas of interest such as cell biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, physiology, and systematics and organismal biology. The program is research oriented and requires the completion of a thesis along with required coursework. Students select from over eighty courses to complete the 31 units of coursework required for the program. More than a third of the coursework (12 units) can be earned for thesis research. The rest of the courses are composed of lectures, lab courses, field courses, seminars and colloquia. See the University Catalog for a description of courses available.
All of our graduate students are engaged in original research under the supervision of one of our 40 faculty. A description of the research interests of our faculty can be found here. A remarkable number of our alumni have gone on to PhD programs (58 during the period from 2010-2015). Others go directly into teaching at community colleges, appointments in government agencies and non-profit organizations, and work in such industries as drug research and development.
Many CSUN faculty have on-going research programs year around, for students have a deep interest and have completed a sufficient amount of introductory coursework. Look at our faculty research specialties, and don't be afraid to visit and talk with professors about their research interests.