Graduate Group in Ecology (GGE)

The UC Davis Graduate Group in Ecology (GGE) is the largest and most comprehensive ecology graduate training group of its kind. Offering unparalleled diversity and depth in course work and research opportunities, the group is recognized as a center for academic and training excellence. Offering both Master's and Ph.D. degrees, the Graduate Group is organized into nine areas of emphasis that include both basic and applied ecology.

Graduate groups are an institution unique to the UC Davis campus. From a student’s point of view, the virtue of graduate groups is that they are much more flexible than departmental graduate programs. Graduate groups allow students to cross-departmental and disciplinary boundaries. In the case of the Graduate Group in Ecology, over 100 faculty from 25 departments give students direct access to a very broad and deep faculty resource. We also have no difficulty with students taking courses from faculty outside the group or from putting such faculty on advisory, qualifying, and thesis committees.