Research Facilities

The laboratories for the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry are housed in Jordan Hall and in the Biosystems Research Complex. The department is well equipped with the instrumentation expected for modern genetic and biochemical analysis. Graduate students have access to specialized research laboratories, including a DNA-sequencing facility with LiCor and ABI-sequencing equipment, a monoclonal antibody facility, a computerized bioinstrumentation laboratory, an image analysis facility, a confocal/electron microscopy suite equipped for transmission and scanning electron microscopy, controlled-environment chambers, a tissue-culture laboratory, fully equipped darkrooms, isotope handling and counting facilities, plant growth chambers, a $7-million greenhouse complex suitable for use with transgenic plants and a small-animal care facility with surgical capabilities. Proteomics and microarray facilities and their staffs complete the range of resources available to graduate researchers.

Plans are underway for a 20,000 square-foot graduate education center at the Greenwood Genetic Center, a respected nonprofit institute which provides clinical genetic services and laboratory testing, develops educational programs and materials and conducts research in the field of medical genetics. The new facility will serve as a focal point for distance education programs and provide laboratories, classrooms and office space.

Financial Aid

Graduate students in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry are supported on teaching or research assistantships through a graduate advisor. Teaching assistantships are assigned by the department chair as recommended by the graduate committee for students with good spoken English to assist in teaching the laboratory and lecture courses offered by the department. These teaching assistantships are limited in number and are offered to outstanding applicants at the time of admission, based on their GRE and TOEFL scores, transcripts and recommendations.

There are a limited number of research assistantships also available, at the discretion of individual investigators, to entering graduate students based on GRE scores, transcripts and recommendations as well as their interests in research programs under the direction of particular investigators. Arrangements for research assistantships are usually worked out between the applicant and the professor, and the formal offer is tendered with the admission papers. The Graduate Admissions Committee does not accept unsupported or part-time students.

Financial aid is provided through grant-supported research assistantships, University-supported research and teaching assistantships, graduate fellowships and grants-in-aid. Stipends for PhD graduate assistantships are $18,932 for 12 months with reduced tuition and $16,432 for MS students for 12 months with reduced tuition. Fees for graduate students with assistantships are approximately $950 per session

for up to 13 credit hours. Graduate students are required to enroll in fall, spring and both summer sessions. Summer session fees are approximately $315 per session.

Admissions Requirements and Procedures

Before you enter the program, you must have earned the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree with a satisfactory academic record. Before you enroll, you must have completed basic undergraduate biology courses (cell biology is strongly recommended), chemistry and physical chemistry courses (organic chemistry required, biochemistry and physical chemistry are strongly recommended), a genetics course (strongly recommended) and physics (required).

To apply, complete the departmental admission form (see www.clemson.edu/genbiochem) and the Graduate School’s application (www.grad.clemson.edu/Admission.php).

Supporting documentation (transcripts, recommendation letters and financial certification) should be sent to:

Clemson University

Graduate Admissions

103 Sikes Hall

Clemson, SC 29634

Send your GRE and TOEFL (if required; see below) scores to the Graduate School directly from ETS. Clemson’s institution code is 5111.

If English is not your native language, a TOEFL score of 650 (paper-based test), 280 (computer-based test) or 114 (IBT) is required to qualify for a teaching assistantship. You must also pass a test of written and spoken English.

The average GRE scores of students admitted to the program in the last five years were 524 on the verbal and 684 on the quantitative. A GPA of 3.0 or higher on a scale of 4.0 is required for a competitive application.

For full consideration, your application and supporting

documentation must be received by January 1 for fall admission and by September 1 for spring admission. Applications completed after these deadlines will be considered for the next term unless you notify us that you do not wish to be considered. The Graduate Admissions Committee meets several times a year to consider applications and will notify you of your status after one of these meetings.

Faculty

• Albert G. Abbott, Professor and Interim Chair; PhD (biological sciences), Brown, 1980.

• Weiguo Cao, Associate Professor; PhD (microbiology), Idaho, 1992.

• Chin-Fu Chen, Assistant Professor; PhD (genetics), SUNY at Stony Brook, 1997.

• Julianne S. Collins, Adjunct Research Professor, Greenwood Genetic Center; PhD (medical genetics), Alabama-Birmingham, 2000.

• Barbara R. DuPont, Adjunct Professor, Greenwood Genetic Center; PhD (genetics), University of Texas-Austin, 1989.

• David B. Everman, Adjunct Research Professor, Greenwood Genetic Center; MD (pediatric genetics), Emory University School of Medicine, 1993.

• F. Alex Feltus, Assistant Professor; PhD (cell biology), Vanderbilt, 2000.

• Julia A. Frugoli, Associate Professor; PhD (biological sciences), Dartmouth, 1998.

• Richard H. Hilderman, Professor; PhD (microbiology), Missouri, 1972.

• Cheryl J. Ingram-Smith, Research Assistant Professor; PhD (molecular biology), Pennsylvania, 1993.

• Kathy F. Kleppinger-Sparace, Adjunct Research Assistant Professor; PhD (molecular and physiological plant biology), University of California, Berkeley, 1990.

• Halina T. Knap, Adjunct Professor; PhD (plant genetics and cytogenetics), Academy of Agriculture, Poznan, Poland, 1974.

• Harry D. Kurtz Jr., Assistant Professor; PhD (bacteriology), Idaho, 1989.

• Amy L. Lawton-Rauh, Assistant Professor; PhD (genetics), NC State, 2003.

• Robert R. Lebel, Adjunct Faculty, Greenwood Genetic Center; MD (medical genetics), University of Wisconsin Medical School, 1982.

• Haiying Liang, Assistant Professor; PhD (plant biotechnology), State University of New York, 2000.

• Hong Luo, Associate Professor; PhD (molecular biology), Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, 1995.

• William R. Marcotte Jr., Associate Professor; PhD (microbiology), Virginia, 1987.

• Brandon D. Moore, Assistant Professor; PhD (botany), Washington State, 1986.

• James C. Morris, Assistant Professor; PhD (cellular biology), Georgia, 1997.

• Meredith T. Morris, Assistant Research Professor; PhD (biochemistry and molecular biology), Georgia, 2000.

• Curtis R. Rogers, Adjunct Faculty, Greenwood Genetic Center; MD (pediatrics clinical genetics), Medical University of South Carolina, 1980.

• Charles E. Schwartz, Adjunct Faculty, Greenwood Genetic Center; PhD (biochemistry); Vanderbilt, 1978.

• Michael G. Sehorn, Assistant Professor; PhD (biochemistry and molecular biology), Louisiana State University, 2002.

• Kerry S. Smith, Associate Professor; PhD (molecular biology), Pennsylvania, 1993.

• Anand K. Srivastava, Adjunct Faculty, Greenwood Genetic Center; PhD (biochemistry), Banaras Hindu University, 1989.

• Roger E. Stevenson, Adjunct Faculty, Greenwood Genetic Center; MD (pediatric genetics), Wake Forest, 1966.

• Jeffrey P. Tomkins, Assistant Professor; PhD (genetics), Clemson, 1996.

• Liangjiang Wang, Assistant Professor; PhD (molecular biology), University of Georgia, Athens, 1999.

• Xi Wang, Research Assistant Professor; PhD (food biochemistry), Louisiana State, 1999.

• Yonnie Wu, Assistant Research Professor; PhD (nutritional science), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994.