Environmental Toxicology

Department Information

Environmental Toxicology website
https://www.southalabama.edu/colleges/graduateschool/etox/

The University of South Alabama, through its Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, offers an interdisciplinary Master’s program in Environmental Toxicology. Its students focus on understanding how toxins, pollutants, and other stressors affect the health of people, food webs, and ecosystems. Students in this program will learn to:

  • Evaluate the impact of toxins, pollutants, and other stressors in the environment
  • Perform laboratory and/or field studies to evaluate the impacts of toxins, pollutants, and stressors at a molecular level, as well as in organisms, populations, food webs, ecosystems, and in communities.
  • Optimize and/or develop field or laboratory methods to identify and evaluate toxic substances in biota and in the environment
  • Evaluate strategies to prevent, mitigate, monitor and/or control and manage toxic substances relevant to environmental and human health

Graduates from this program will be able to seek opportunities across multiple employment sectors including academic research, State and Federal Government research and policy, industry, non-governmental organizations, and private consulting and/or environmental monitoring. Alternatively, students may continue their education by pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Toxicology or related areas (e.g., Marine Sciences, Biology, Biomedical Sciences). In addition, these graduates will be qualified for jobs requiring M.S. degrees in their original areas of concentration.

Minimum Requirements for Admission

Students applying to this program must fulfill all the requirements for admission specified by the Graduate School. Additional requirements include:

  • B.S./B.A. degree from an accredited four-year college or university. The program is designed for graduates holding baccalaureate degrees in Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering or related fields.
  • An undergraduate GPA of 3.00 or above is required.
  • In addition, students applying to this program must have completed the following undergraduate courses: Biology (2 semesters); Statistics (1 semester); Calculus (1 semester); Organic Chemistry (2 semesters); Biochemistry.
  • It is recommended (but not required) that students applying to the program have completed at least 6 credit hours of undergraduate Biochemistry. Those students who have only taken the minimum 3 hours of undergraduate biochemistry will have to include an additional 3 hours of graduate Biochemistry among the elective courses to complete the program.

  • The GRE score is not required for admission. You may optionally submit your GRE scores if you wish for them to be considered as part of your application to any graduate program, but this is not required. Individual faculty members may consider available GRE scores as part of a holistic evaluation of the candidates.

The applicant will also be required to submit:

  1. A completed application including a 1-2 page statement indicating the students interests and professional goals
  2. Official transcripts from all undergraduate institutions attended
  3. At least two professional letters of recommendation with current contact information

Assessment of credentials will be supplemented by evaluation of letters of recommendation and the educational background of the student. Foreign applicants must meet all University entrance requirements and meet a minimum TOEFL score of 71 (or equivalent). More details for foreign applicants can be found here: https://www.southalabama.edu/departments/international/requirements-deadline.html

To ensure compatibility between the student’s research interests and faculty expertise, particular attention will be given to the written statement of interest from applicants. A University faculty member will be asked to act as a “mentor” for the applicant based on the statement of interest, and if necessary, a follow-up interview. Through this process, the student’s interests will be matched to the expertise available at the University. Where possible student’s should contact potential mentors in advance or work with the graduate coordinator to find a potential mentor when applying to the program.

Fellowships and Assistantships

The Graduate School offers a limited number of competitive research and/or teaching assistantships to students in the Environmental Toxicology program at the University of South Alabama. These include tuition remission and waiver of out-of- state fees. Additional research assistantships may be possible through extramural grants and contracts.

Deadline for Applications to the Environmental Toxicology Program

Students entering the program in the fall are encouraged to submit applications by June 1. Students may also apply for admission during spring and summer.  Early applications and inquiries are welcomed to assist in identification of potential faculty mentors.