School Overview

The Richard Gilder Graduate School Offers Students a Novel Ph.D. Program in Comparative Biology

• Our own Ph.D. degree program, in Comparative Biology. This is the first Ph.D. degree-granting program for any museum in the western hemisphere.
• A balanced curriculum with a program that combines training in highly theoretical areas with practical, hands-on work in the laboratory, and unparalleled opportunities to carry out collections-based and field research.
• An extraordinarily high faculty to student ratio of 2:1 that provides students with individualized attention from our world renowned scholars and scientists.
• A program of over 120 field expeditions annually, together with a field research station, the Southwestern Research Station, in an area of rich biodiversity in Arizona.
• Access to one of the world’s most important natural history collections of 33 million specimens and artifacts, including the Ambrose Monell Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research (frozen tissue collection) and one of the world’s largest databases of astrophysical and biological data.
• The largest independent natural history library in the Western Hemisphere.
• The opportunity to participate in AMNH pre-college, teacher training, and public outreach programs, extending the range of educational experiences, dialogue, and training open to graduate students well beyond those available at other institutions of higher education.