Honors Student Fast Tracks Into Ph.D. Program

For most students, getting into a Ph.D. program requires a master’s degree, but for Farquhar Honors College student Rose Leeger, all it took was an extraordinary dedication to research as an undergraduate student. Entering a Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) this fall, Leeger will begin her graduate research journey with financial support from the National Science Foundation.

Leeger was able to jumpstart her Ph.D. career thanks to two years of research experience working on an honors thesis and being a scholar of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI).

‘[The] honors thesis [gave] me the opportunity to conduct my own novel research,” said Leeger, who received bachelor’s degrees in biology, marine biology, and environmental science this spring. “This opportunity. . . distinguished me from other applicants when I applied to graduate school as my thesis work was used as my justification. . . to bypass a master’s degree and go straight to a Ph.D. program.”

Her thesis studies the range expansion and hybridization of Mangrove Mosquitofish in South Florida due to climate change and human interference and includes a land acknowledgment recognizing and respecting Indigenous Peoples as stewards of the land she conducted research on. She completed her research under the guidance of her thesis advisor J. Matthew Hoch, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, who introduced her to the topic.

While at CU Boulder, Leeger’s research will focus on interdisciplinary methods to better understand how to protect species in Antarctica. She was inspired to pursue this research path after working with NOAA’s Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division to study penguin colonies last summer.

“I have always been passionate about polar ecosystems,” said Leeger. “I’m excited to combine my research interests in conservation and ecology [and apply them] to an ecosystem that is constantly threatened due to human impacts [and] meet new people in my field.”

After completing her education, she hopes to become a professor to engage the next generation of scientists in polar exploration and conservation.

Learn more about the honors thesis.

Posted 07/30/23