Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, MS

MS Plan A:

Students must complete a minimum of 24 credits hours of course work and 6 credit hours of thesis preparation. A final oral examination is also required.

MS Plan B:

Students must complete a minimum of 30 credits as follows:

Prerequisites for these courses are TPSS 304 , TPSS 450 , TPSS 453 , TPSS 470 , and MBBE 402 .

• TPSS 610 - Nutrition of Tropical Crops Credits: 3

• OR

• TPSS 475 - Plant Nutrient Diagnosis in the Tropics Credits: 3

•  

• TPSS 614 - Molecular Genetics of Crops Credits: 3
• TPSS 650 - Soil Plant Nutrient Relations Credits: 4
• TPSS 652 - Information Research Skills Credits: 1
• TPSS 654 - Communications in the Sciences Credits: 1
• TPSS 667 - Graduate Seminar Credits: 1
• TPSS 674 - Plant Growth and Development Credits: 3
• TPSS 699 - Directed Research Credits: V

Proposal defense:

MS Plan A students are required to give a thesis proposal seminar, preferably in the second semester.

Seminar:

All students must take TPSS 654 - Communications in the Sciences  during their graduate study and register for TPSS 667 - Graduate Seminar  once every academic year in which they are registered as full-time student or equivalent. An exception can be made during the final semester, in which the dissertation defense or Plan B project report is given in place of TPSS 667 .

Lecture Requirement:

All MS students are required to give one lecture in a TPSS course during their program. The student will be evaluated by the faculty teaching the course, and this evaluation will be added to the student’s file.

MS-Thesis Plan A:

See graduate chair on thesis preparation. Upon development of a thesis proposal in conjunction with your advisor and the selection of graduate committee, the student will advanced to candidacy. The thesis topic must be submitted and approved by your graduate committee prior to mid-term of the semester after you have been advanced to candidacy. You may register for TPSS 700  only after your thesis topic has been approved by your committee.

Final Examination-MS Plan A:

A final oral examination on course of study and project is required. The first part of the examination consists of a seminar presentation and defense of the research, which is open to the public and is one hour in length. Following the presentation, student will be examined in detailed on the conduct and results of the thesis by the committee.

Final Examination-MS Plan B:

A final oral examination is required. The examination consists of a seminar presentation which is open to the public and is one hour in length. The seminar will be presented on a topic agreed upon by the student and their advisor/committee chair. Topics presented included the research conducted under the advisor’s direction in TPSS 699 .