Animal Sciences (Graduate Program)

For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here.  

Program Overview

The School of Animal Sciences offers graduate degrees with areas of specialization in breeding and genetics, growth and metabolic physiology, meat science and technology, dairy production, ruminant and nonruminant nutrition, reproductive physiology, and biotechnology.

Research is performed with beef cattle, dairy cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry, and various laboratory species. Interactions of school faculty with scientists in the School of Veterinary Medicine, Pennington Biomedical Research Institute, and units of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station (LAES) throughout the state provide a vast array of research opportunities for graduate students in the animal sciences.

Administration

Admission

Applications for admission are received and evaluated by the School of Animal Sciences for each semester (fall, spring, summer). Applicants must adhere to the application deadlines established by the Graduate School.

Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study, acceptable GRE scores, and three letters of recommendation. International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE score.

When all admission requirements are met, full admission will be considered by the graduate faculty members in the prospective student’s area of interest. Final admittance to the program must be supported by a member of the graduate faculty in the school, thus students are encouraged to communicate with faculty directly about the possibility of working in a faculty member’s program. If a student does not meet all requirements, he or she may be admitted provisionally (e.g., on probation if the GPA is not 3.0 or better).

Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is available to some students. Support may be available through the school or other units in the form of research or teaching assistantships. Graduate assistantships are available on a competitive basis. Assistantships are awarded through faculty members, so applicants should contact individual faculty members concerning the availability of funding. Students on assistantship receive full tuition waivers but are responsible for university fees. To ensure consideration for financial aid, all application materials should be submitted as early as possible before the actual admitting semester.

Graduate Faculty

(Check current faculty listings by department here)

Kenneth R. Bondioli (M) • Reproductive physiology/biotechnology; embryo biotechnology
Richard K. Cooper (3A) • Animal Diseases
Philip H. Elzer (M) • Infectious Diseases
Xing Fu • Muscle Biology
Jerome F. La Peyre (3F) • Oyster diseases
Kenneth W. McMillin (M) • Meat properties, processing, and packaging; food safety; goat meat
Zongliang Jiang (6A) • Molecular genetics, Bioinformatics
Vinicius R. Moreira (M) • Dairy cattle nutrition and management
Christine B. Navarre (M) • Extension Veterinarian, animal health and diseases
Erin L. Oberhaus (6A) • Equine Reproduction, Ovarian function
Neely L. Walker (3F) • Equine Extension
Cathleen C. Williams (M) • Dairy calf and heifer nutrition, dairy management

Programs

• Animal Sciences, M.S.

• Animal Sciences, Ph.D.