The Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Honors Program is designed to enable students to complete a significant independent research project that will be formally submitted in thesis format and also publicly presented as a talk or poster.

Open the EEB Honors Program link below for details.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Honors Program

Many of our honors students publish their thesis research and go on to excel at graduate school and beyond. Here are three examples.

Laura Lessin was an MS/MBA student in a U-M joint Business School-SNRE program on Corporate Environmental Management. Her honors thesis was performed in Deborah Goldberg's lab and resulted in the following publication:  Lessin, L.A., A.R. Dyer, and D.E. Goldberg. 2001. Using upper boundary constraints to quantify competitive response of desert annuals. Oikos. 92:153-159.

Click here for a printer version of Laura Lessin's publication. (PDF)

Robert Jennings was a Ph.D. student at Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute.  His honors thesis was carried out in Diarmaid O' Foighil's lab and contributed to the following publication:  O' Foighil, D., Jennings, R., Park, J.K., and Merriwether, A. 2001. Phylogenetic relationships of mid-oceanic ridge and continental lineages of Lasaea (Mollusca: Bivalvia) in the Northeastern Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 213:165-175.

Click here for a printer version of Robert Jenning's publication. (PDF)

Elizabeth Tibbetts, a new faculty member in EEB in Fall 2005, just left a position as a PERT Fellow at the University of Arizona.  Her honors thesis was performed with David Mindell and contributed toward the following paper:  Rest, J. R., J. C. Ast, C. C. Austin, P. J. Waddell, E. A. Tibbetts, J. M. Hay and D. P. Mindell. 2003. Molecular systematics of Reptilia and the tuatara mitochondrial genome. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 29:289-297.

Click here for a printer version of Elizabeth Tibbetts' publication. (PDF)


Here's what one EEB concentrator, Pat McLaren, said about his independent research experience:

“Throughout my project I learned a great deal. Initially I had registered to do independent research simply to satisfy a requirement in the EEB concentration to graduate. It had never occurred to me to do independent research before, and once I found out it was required of me I looked at it more as a duty than an opportunity. But after a whole year of research I can honestly say that this was one of the most rewarding educational experiences I have ever had.

Independent research allowed me a structured environment to explore genetics in a way that I had never considered in a traditional classroom setting. I was allowed to learn things through exploration rather than memorization. My project allowed the sort of hands-on learning that is so often lost in such a large institution like this one. Just completing a simple reaction left me feeling like I had accomplished something. I could see the raw data and the results take shape right in front of me; it was no longer someone showing me something about genetics, but instead it was me discovering something to show someone else.

Before I started my research I was not fascinated with genetics, nor did I actively try and learn more about the way genes worked, but now I am more curious than ever. I am planning on staying in Dr. Julia Richards' lab in the Kellogg Eye Center after graduation to complete my project and have received a grant from the Fight for Sight foundation to continue through the rest of the summer, and I now know at the end of my senior year just days from graduating this "duty" as I once considered it has open doors of opportunity, and for that I am forever grateful to have had this opportunity.”