Message From the Dean

Welcome to The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research! 

As we designed this new and quite novel graduate program at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, we had but one goal in mind: create a stimulating interdisciplinary program for students who have a demonstrated ability to do scientific research that immerses them in an environment built upon cutting-edge investigation in many facets of modern molecular biology.

Achieving that vision has led us to design a novel program that emphasizes immediate immersion in research, coupled with training in critical reading, writing, and thinking. Our first goal is to quickly provide students with a strong background in essential new technologies (such as proteomics and high-resolution imaging) and increasingly important new approaches (such as computational biology) that are the basis for forefront research in areas such as chromosome biology, developmental biology, epigenetics and gene expression, and neurobiology.

Our second goal is to then place students in energetic and prestigious research laboratories over the course of three rotations. This experience is designed to both widen students’ knowledge of the Stowers Institute and help each student choose a dissertation laboratory. The culmination of this goal is to allow students to be settled in their dissertation laboratories in June of their first year, with their sole commitment thereafter being to their doctoral research.

The third and final goal of our program is to assist each student throughout his/her time in the program in using the resources available throughout the labs and core facilities of the Stowers Institute to complete a thesis that makes an important contribution to a significant biological problem – a process that helps the student further develop as a strong, creative, and independent researcher.

Given these goals, we are looking for a very special type of applicant. Drawing from a wide pool of students in the U.S. and internationally, we are looking for students with a demonstrated excellence in research. For some students that will mean undergraduate or post-baccalaureate experience in a lab doing biological research, while for others the experience will come from research projects in math, computer science, or physical sciences.

We encourage all of you to apply to explore this exciting experiment in graduate training. Just as the Institute itself began as an experiment in how to build a first-rate research institute (that is now highly successful), the new graduate program is an equally innovative and exciting new experiment in graduate education. Because we are “all about the experiment” in every aspect of the Stowers Institute, we invite you to consider applying to be part of this new program.

We will continually update this site with information. In the interim, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of our staff members at education@stowers.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

R. Scott Hawley, Ph.D.
Dean, The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research
American Cancer Society Research Professor
Investigator, Stowers Institute for Medical Research