MS Students
Background
An MS degree recognizes proficiency in advanced scientific knowledge and technical skills. Starting employees with an MS degree tend to earn ~$15,000 more per year in gross salary than those with only a BS degree. To earn an MS degree a student in my lab group usually does 32 units of coursework in either the Hydrologic Sciences or Ecology Graduate Groups at UC Davis plus an MS thesis. The purpose of the MS thesis is to gain experience as a project leader in which the candidate learns and applies management skills, technical skills, and scientific knowledge to all phases of the scientific method. Typically an MS research project involves taking an existing scientiic hypothesis and then performing the research to explore it, usually with a blend of outdoor field work, computer modeling, traditional statistical data analysis, and GIS-based geospatial data analysis. I hold my MS students to a high standard of research and writing quality, which is why they are highly sought after by employers. The majority of my former MS students are now professional consultants, but two went on to become professors.
Current MS Students
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Sean Luis
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Pete Moniz
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Past MS Students
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Luke Tillman
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Matt Weber
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Michael Strom
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David Ho
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Bobby Gonzalez
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Leah Kammel
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Matthew Vaughan
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Tarick Abu-Aly
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Rusty Barker
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Anne Senter
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Jason White
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Aaron Fulton
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Rocko Brown
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Eve Elkins
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Joe Wheaton
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Jose Constantine
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Chien Wang
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