School Overview

Welcome from the Dean

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to the Richard Gilder Graduate School.

Many of you are already familiar with the American Museum’s outstanding exhibitions and public education programs, cutting-edge research, worldwide expeditions, and vast collections of specimens, cultural artifacts, and astrophysical data. We also have a deep commitment to academic training, an integral part of our mission for more than 100 years. Building on that commitment, we recently were authorized by New York State to award a Ph.D. in Comparative Biology, the first Ph.D. degree-granting program for any museum in the western hemisphere. This exciting new chapter in our history as an educational institution permits us to complement our longstanding collaborations with other universities, by developing an innovative graduate program in one of the most important areas of contemporary science.

The 21st century is widely viewed as the “century of biology.” But much of biology focuses on a single species, cell, or molecular system, even though many important scientific questions only can be fully addressed with a comparative approach focusing on the history and interactions among species, within and between biotas, and across time and space. Our new Ph.D. Program in Comparative Biology was established to train the next generation of biologists, taking full advantage of the unparalleled resources of the American Museum of Natural History, including its world-renowned collections, distinguished faculty, legacy of excellence in field discovery and theoretical advances, and public mission in science education with unique student training opportunities in exhibitions and K-12 educational programs. The exceptional support provided for the Richard Gilder Graduate School, from graduate fellowships to a newly renovated “home” for the school within our landmark buildings, will enable us to serve talented and forward-thinking students from throughout the world. Graduates of the new Ph.D. Program in Comparative Biology will be well prepared to be leaders in academia, industry, government, or the private sector. I urge you to consider becoming one of them.

The Richard Gilder Graduate School web pages (http://rggs.amnh.org) provide details of the entire range of the American Museum’s postsecondary educational activities. Explore them, and please contact us if you have additional questions (info-rggs@amnh.org).

Most sincerely,

John J. Flynn
Dean, Richard Gilder Graduate School