The NYCEP Course of Study

Each university doctoral program has specific requirements (outlined on the university pages and documented more extensively on their web sites), but all NYCEP students will follow a broadly similar training path irrespective of their university affiliation. The first three years of graduate training are normally devoted to coursework, independent study, qualifying examinations and defense of a dissertation proposal. Each term, students are expected to take a full program of courses (3-4 per term), including internships, independent study, and formal classes. In the first year and a half, all students take three NYCEP core courses, designed to provide background in three major areas of evolutionary primatology: 1) Molecular Genetics and Human Biology; 2) Behavioral Biology, Ecology and Conservation; and 3) Paleontology, Comparative Morphology and Phylogeny. These courses are generally offered by pairs of faculty from different universities in order to provide students with differing viewpoints and a chance to meet faculty from all the schools. Other courses taken in the first year are drawn from a range of advanced offerings or those designed to meet the requirements of each university in areas other than physical anthropology. A statistics course (required at all the universities) is highly recommended in the first or second year. In addition, Human Gross Anatomy is required for students focusing on primate morphology and one or more courses on primate conservation are required for students focusing on primate behavior or ecology. A new course on Professionalization was developed as part of the IGERT program as a means to formally introduce students to such topics as the ethical conduct of science, federal regulations for research involving animals and humans, data sharing and ownership, research collaboration and teamwork (especially with investigators in other countries), responsible leadership, conflict of interest, mentor-trainee relationships, successful proposal-writing, effective oral and written presentation of research results, the publication process and peer review, and the job-search process. This course will be offered over two terms every two years and is required of students in their first or second year of study.

In addition to formal courses, each student will be expected to undertake three directed research projects, called internships, within the five NYCEP institutions. During their first year, students will get to know faculty members from all five institutions and learn about the diversity of their research. Typically in the second and third years, students will arrange with faculty members to take a credit-earning tutorial or independent study in which they will be trained in the research methods used by that scholar and then carry out a circumscribed project, either individually or together with the faculty member. At least one such internship will be undertaken at an institution other than the student's home university, one (possibly the same as the preceding) will be in a field other than the student's primary area of concentration (broadly speaking: morphology/paleontology, genetics/molecular biology or behavior/ecology), and one might be linked to a fieldwork experience. As with other major decisions, the choice of internships and supervisors should be discussed with the advisor. The purpose of the internships is to provide students with hands-on research experience in multiple areas within evolutionary primatology in preparation for the development of their own dissertation research project.

A number of field research projects are being undertaken by NYCEP faculty, mainly during the summer. Funds are available to permit NYCEP students to participate in one or more of these projects in order to learn field techniques and develop a clearer understanding of the problems involved in field research. All students are expected to take part in such an international field experience during the summer after their first or second year, with a second field trip possible to aid a student in developing a dissertation proposal.

All students are also expected to attend the two seminar series sponsored by NYCEP. The most important of these is the NYCEP Seminar in Physical Anthropology. This course is designed to train students in the digestion and analysis of literature and presentation of an oral and written summary thereof. Each year, the overall topic changes under the direction of a faculty organizer, at whose institution the course will meet. Although only second-year students take the course for credit, first-year and more advanced students are expected to attend regularly and participate in discussions, and time is also allotted for students engaged in dissertation research to update their fellows and the faculty on their progress. This course meets biweekly throughout the academic year (generally on Friday afternoons), and it helps to bring the far-flung members of the program together on a regular basis.

The New York Regional Primatology Colloquium has met monthly in the evening since 1970 as a venue for primatologists from all over the northeast to present recent research to colleagues. Speakers are usually regional scholars or visitors whose presence in New York is made the occasion of a lecture. This series has become a part of the NYCEP program, with funds available to invite distinguished colleagues each semester to spend a day or two meeting with NYCEP students and faculty, as well as to present a NYRP lecture.