Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics

Priority Deadlines:

Campus:

  • Pullman
  • Spokane
  • Tri-Cities
  • Vancouver

International Student English Proficiency Exams

International students may need to surpass the Graduate School’s minimum English language proficiency exam scores for this program. If the graduate program has unique score requirements, they will be detailed below. Otherwise, please refer to the Graduate School’s minimum score guidelines.

Degree Description:

The certificate emphasizes the acquisition of biological and computational expertise by supplementing graduate students’ existing background with necessary training in molecular biology, genomics, and computer science. There is a clear need for the development of expertise to analyze the growing amount of biological data generated from genomic, phenotypic, environmental, and other sources. The goal of the certificate is to provide the coursework and a richer academic environment for graduate student to synthesize information across multiple disciplines. The certificate is aimed to prepare highly qualified graduate students who have rigorous multidisciplinary training in molecular biology, genomics, and computer science.

The certificate is aimed at graduate students in engineering, sciences, computer science, and agriculture, although students from other colleges may also find it valuable. The primary objective is to provide students an interdisciplinary training in bioinformatics. Our goal is to develop among the students a critical scientific understanding of bioinformatics, including the biological and computational aspects of algorithm development and implementation.

Admission Requirements:

Admitted Masters or Ph.D. students under the advisement of WSU faculty, and post-graduate professionals who earned their degree in an appropriate field, are eligible to apply for the certificate program. Students who are eligible will notify their department’s graduate committee and their guidance committee of their interest in the certificate. Once the guidance committee has agreed that it is in the student’s best interest to pursue and complete the certificate, the student will apply to the Bioinformatics Certificate committee. The application will include a statement from the student’s advisor and graduate committee supporting the application. In this way, we hope to enhance the disciplinary degree.

For students to excel and get the most out of their participation in this certificate, we anticipate that students should have proficiency in the following: one year of calculus, coursework in probability and statistics (strongly advised as it is required for some courses). It is also advisable for students to have 1 year of computer programming (coursework or experience), but it is not required.

Contact Information: