Plant and Soil Sciences Graduate Program
One graduate program. Two concentrations. Three degree options.
Plant Science involves course work in plant molecular biology, plant breeding, plant pathology, plant tissue culture, horticulture, crop science, plant anatomy and/or plant physiology with thesis research in one of those areas.
Soil Science involves course work and thesis research in soil chemistry, soil fertility and management, soil physics, soil microbiology and biochemistry, environmental microbiology, soil and water quality and soil formation and biogeochemistry.
Degree options:
- Ph.D. dissertation degree
- M.S. thesis degree
- M.S. non-thesis degree (full- or part-time)
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Global crops and drought
July 30, 2026 | Written by Adam Thomas | Illustration by Jeffrey C. ChaseA new study from the University of Delaware’s Kyle Davis examined production losses for 17 major crops accounting for three-quarters of the world’s food production and found that portions of the Midwestern United States, eastern Brazil, eastern Spain, and central and northern India were among the areas most sensitive to droughts. -
AI flower power
July 27, 2026 | Written by Katie Peikes | Photo illustration by Jeffrey C. ChaseYin Bao, University of Delaware assistant professor of digital agriculture, built a specialized AI tool called FLORIST to automatically analyze thousands of plant photos taken by everyday people, instead of manually sorting through 44,000 images. FLORIST efficiently filtered out the vast majority of photos that did not show active flowering, narrowing the dataset. Bao says the main takeaway is blending widespread public observations with deep genetic research gives a more complete understanding of how species evolve to survive in the wild. -
Phosphorus detective
July 16, 2026 | Written by Katie Peikes | Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson and courtesy of Deb JaisiPhosphorus gives plants their daily nutritional needs. But whatever phosphorus a plant can’t consume creeps into waterways and speeds up algae growth that can kill fish and aquatic plants. Fascinated by these properties, University of Delaware professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry Deb Jaisi has dedicated his academic career to exploring phosphorus and its presence in the environment. His innovative research has unlocked new ways to pinpoint where the phosphorus causing environmental damage is coming from.
Important Links
Application process update: Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), the program of PLSC is waiving the GRE requirement for our graduate program. If you wish to apply without a GRE score, please enter a future GRE exam date into the application. It need not be a legitimate exam date. Entering a future exam date causes the system to finish your application and send it on to our review committee where it will receive full consideration.