MS Degree

Master of Science

The Office of Master’s Education manages academic and professional training in the life and health sciences leading to the degree of MS in Public Health Sciences for Clinical Professionals; MS in Precision Health and the MPH. OME also offers certificate training programs.

The Master of Science degree is awarded to PhD students in the Biological Sciences Division in very specific circumstances:

Those individuals not continuing in their Ph.D. program of study may be awarded a terminal Master of Science degree.
Specific programs allow students to receive a transitional Master of Science degree.

2014

Paul Sereno and Nizar Ibrahim: helped solve the puzzle of Spinosaurus, the first dinosaur known to swim

German scientist Ernst Stromer unearthed the original bones of Spinosaurus at the turn of the 20th century but they were lost in World War II. The giant dinosaur eluded scientists until 2014, when an international team, including UChicago paleontologists Nizar Ibrahim and Paul Sereno, analyzed newly acquired fossils, remains from museum collections, and historical records to render the dinosaur’s skeleton and reveal it as the first truly semi-aquatic dinosaur.

1890s

Henry Chandler Cowles: led formational work in the study of ecology

Botanist Henry Chandler Cowles’s study of ecological succession in the Indiana Dunes along the southern shore of Lake Michigan in the late 1890s opened a new field of inquiry in the natural sciences: ecology. The investigation of a changing natural landscape carries increasing importance amid growing concerns about our environment.

2004

Cathryn Nagler: discovered links between intestinal bacteria and immunology

In 2004 Cathryn Nagler, the Bunning Family Professor in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Pathology, was one of the first scientists to discover the link between intestinal bacteria and immunology. In 2014, Nagler discovered that Clostridia, a class of gut bacteria, protects against food allergies. Her research group is now working to find a treatment for food allergies via a microbiome-based treatment.

1977

Eugene Goldwasser: discovered source of red blood cell formation

Biochemist Eugene Goldwasser isolated erythropoietin (EPO), the hormone behind red blood cell formation. The 1977 discovery led to the development of the first blockbuster drug of the biotech age, which has since treated millions with anemia.

1942

Julian H. Lewis: debunked race-based blood typing

Julian H. Lewis, PhD 1915, the first African American to hold both an MD and a PhD, conducted groundbreaking research on race and blood typing that led to his hallmark book, Biology of the Negro (1942). His book was a precursor to the field of anthropathology and is credited with changing many people’s perspectives on race. Lewis was also the first African American to teach at the University of Chicago, where he was a noted expert in immunology.