Biology, Computer Science, Engineering
Learning at BEACON means moving beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries to explore the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of evolutionary biology, computer science, and applications of evolution to solving societal problems ranging from medicine to engineering design.
INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING
BEACON provides interdisciplinary enrichment designed to enhance the education of graduate students from many departments at our partner universities. All BEACON graduate students develop competence in evolution, biology, and computational science through coursework and hands-on activities. Real-time evolution laboratories allow students to generate and test their own evolutionary hypotheses using viruses, bacteria, fungi, and digital organisms.
HANDS‐ON EXPERIENCE
With more than 70 faculty mentors at five partner institutions, BEACON offers graduate students the opportunity for a variety of laboratory and field research experiences in biology, computer science, and engineering. Graduate students work in multidisciplinary teams to explore fundamental concepts of evolution in action, including teaching and outreach activities on campus and in the larger community.
DOCTORAL PROGRAMS
BEACON graduate students enroll in a doctoral program at one of the five partner institutions in our consortium. Participating programs/departments include:
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- Computer Science
- Electrical Engineering
- Fisheries and Wildlife
- Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
- Plant Biology
- Zoology
NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
- Biological Sciences
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
- Computer Science
- Microbiology, Molecular Biology & Biochem.
- Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- Biochemistry
- Cell and Molecular Biology
- Computer Science
- Microbiology
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- Bioengineering
- Biology
- Genome Sciences
READY TO APPLY?
Once you have decided which program you are interested in you’ll have to apply to that particular university. Each partner institution has its own application process and makes its own admissions decisions for students applying to their graduate programs. Please indicate on your graduate application that you are interested in participating in the BEACON program.
NEED MORE INFORMATION?
Please contact the main BEACON office at Michigan State University.
