Bioinformatics
201 N. Goodwin Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801-2301
Phone: (217) 333-4930
Fax: (217) 244-7915
E-mail: informatics@illinois.edu
Major: Bioinformatics
Degrees Offered: M.S.
Graduate Concentrations: Animal Sciences, Crop Sciences, Library and Information Science, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Computer Science
Graduate Degree Programs
The Bioinformatics program at the University of Illinois is an interdisciplinary program with many participating departments. Currently students can earn the Master of Science in Bioinformatics with a concentration in one of the following departments: Animal Sciences, Crop Sciences, Library and Information Science, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Computer Science. The program is overseen by I3, but students are also members of the department of their concentration.
Admission
Applicants must hold a bachelor's degree equivalent to that granted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The recommended background for graduate students entering the Bioinformatics degree program is a bachelor's or master's degree in life sciences, computer and mathematical sciences, or engineering, with a minimum of five hours of molecular and cell biology, six hours of general chemistry, nineteen hours of mathematics and statistics, and three hours of introduction to computing. Prerequisites vary somewhat for the different departmental concentrations. Students should view the web page of the specific department they wish to apply to for detailed information about admission criteria and degree requirements. Those departmental links are below:
- Department of Animal Sciences
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Crop Sciences
- Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Degree Requirements
*For additional details and requirements refer to the degree requirements, the appropriate department's graduate handbook, and the Graduate College Handbook.
Master of Science
The M.S. degree can be taken in a thesis or non-thesis format, depending on the department. For either format, the research adviser must be affiliated with the Bioinformatics program. Departments may have requirements in addition to those below. See the departmental links above for more information.
| Required Courses | Thesis Option-Required Hours | Non-thesis Option-Required Hours |
|---|---|---|
| One biology course from approved list | 4 | 4 |
| CS 411 or 473 | 4 | 4 |
| One bioinformatics course from approved list | 4 | 4 |
| Thesis Hours Required (min/max applied toward degree): | 4-8 | |
| Total Hours | 32 | 36 |
Minimum Hours Required Within the Unit: |
8 | 8 |
Minimum 500-level Hours Required Overall: |
12 | 12 |
| Other Requirements:* A concentration is required. |
Non-thesis programs must require students to participate in a research experience supervised by a faculty member.
Facilities
University research centers in this area include the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology and an NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics. The campus also offers state-of-the-art experimental bioinformatics facilities, including those in the Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics and the Institute for Genomic Biology. The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), located at the University, offers opportunities for accessing, developing, and experimenting with state-of-the-art computational facilities for bioinformatics.
Financial Aid
Fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships (all of which include tuition and partial fee waivers) are awarded on a competitive basis by the admitting department. All applicants, regardless of U.S. citizenship, whose native language is not English and who wish to be considered for teaching assistantships (the most common form of financial aid for new graduate students in the department) must submit a score of at least 50 on theTest of Spoken English (TSE).