Master of Science in Forestry
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The Master of Science in Forestry program requires you to successfully complete a thesis within the field of forestry and to select a minor. It emphasizes the resources of North Carolina and the southern United States, but candidates may also address forestry problems throughout North America or choose an area of study that leverages FER’s expertise in tropical pine species and other international arenas.
In general, the Master of Science in Forestry (MS-Forestry) degree requires that a student develop and conduct a research project, then present their methodologies and results of the test or experiment as a thesis. The MS-Forestry degree is the preferred track for students who are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. or who anticipate conducting or reviewing research in their future work.
MS-Forestry students can focus on topics ranging from basic scientific inquiry to broader applied management issues. Degrees are available in wide array of areas, including
- Forest genetics and tree breeding,
- Propagation of commercial trees species,
- Forest nurseries, nursery soils and regeneration,
- Biotechnology and gene transfer in commercial forest species,
- Applications of genomic science,
- All facets of forest management and operations,
- Forest economics,
- Forest nutrition,
- Hardwoods,
- International forestry,
- Restoration ecology,
- Silviculture, and
- Woodlots.
Many NC State MS-Forestry graduates have gone to work in the international forestry industry. Others have enjoyed academic or field careers, accepted positions with public and private environmental agencies, started their own companies or continued their studies.
Sample Thesis Topics
Past thesis topics for MS-Forestry students at NC State include:
- Green weight, volume and taper equations for the Virginia pine,
- Evaluation of financial returns for different seed orchard establishment options,
- Detection and analysis of changes in clear-cut harvest patterns using remote sensing and geographic information systems,
- Population response to positive assortative mating in forest tree breeding,
- Adventitious rooting and physiology of stem cuttings of loblolly pine,
- Genetic parameters of wood density in softwood and hardwood species,
- Biomass and nutrient accumulation comparison between successive loblolly pine rotations, and
- Factors affecting the rooting of Fraser fir and Virginia pine stem cuttings.
For the full text of these dissertations as well as a look at other topics FER graduate students have pursued, please visit the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Library of the NC State Graduate School.
Declaring A Minor
You must declare a minor as part of your MS-Forestry program. A minor may be declared within any established curriculum at NCSU or as "interdisciplinary minor." A minor generally consists of at least nine graduate credits approved by your advisory committee’s minor faculty member. The courses must be taken during your degree program and all must be within a given curriculum or among the appropriate departments to satisfy a logical interdisciplinary minor.
For More Information
For more information on admission and degree requirements, tuition costs and financial aid plus other related topics, please explore the links at left.
