The University of California, Berkeley offers a full graduate program in paleobiology, centered on a department and the UC Museum of Paleontology (UCMP). The Museum provides special facilities, collections and expertise to graduate students but does not grant degrees. Graduate degrees with emphasis in paleontology may be earned in the Departments of Integrative Biology (IB), Earth and Planetary Science (EPS), and Geography (G). Relevant courses to build a paleontology curriculum are offered through these departments, and all paleontology faculty in these departments are also Curators in the Museum.
Students of paleobiology benefit from having access to the facilities, expertise, and collections of the Museum. Facilities include DNA extraction, molecular sequencing, macro- and microfossil prep labs, paleohistology and wet labs; and an environmental scanning electron microscope. The Museum has one of the largest collections of fossil protists, invertebrates, plants, and vertebrates in the nation, as well as large collections of modern vertebrate skeletal elements and invertebrates.
Go to the next page for more specific information on course offerings, entrance requirements and the application process.
