Committee on Evolutionary Biology

The Committee on Evolutionary Biology (CEB) was established in 1968. Since then, CEB has provided a means for Ph.D. students to pursue interdisciplinary research that does not readily fall within a single department’s purview. CEB students have access to field sites, equipment (GPS, laptops, digitizers, cameras), laboratories, research funds for pilot work, and an exceptional range of scientific and technical expertise. The program usually includes 25–30 Ph.D. students at one time. It has produced over 100 graduates who are now working around the world in universities, museums, zoos, and governmental and non-governmental agencies.

CEB presently has about sixty faculty members representing all four graduate divisions (Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities), as well as institutions outside the University (Argonne National LaboratoryBrookfield ZooChicago Botanic GardenThe Field MuseumLincoln Park Zoo, and Morton Arboretum). This diverse faculty conducts research on most major groups of organisms, and in most ecosystems, using an extremely broad range of methods and theoretical approaches. Click here to view current course listings in Evolutionary Biology.

Graduate admissions is coordinated with the Departments of Organismal Biology and Anatomy (OBA) and Ecology and Evolution (E&E), the other two programs in the Darwinian Sciences cluster, and with other departments and committees on campus. Students admitted into CEB usually draw more heavily on faculty from multiple departments or on faculty from more than one institution, but students in all programs are encouraged to train broadly by interacting with faculty both within and outside the cluster.

logo from the celebration of CEB's 50th anniversary
(Caroline P. Abbott)
implants in a snake skull
(Daniel Rhoda)