The Plant Breeding (PB) certificate is not a minor, but is a valuable add-on credential for students with a professional interest in plant breeding. This certificate provides students with a comprehensive understanding of breeding in the plant sciences, including agronomy, horticulture and turf science. Upon completion of this certificate, students will have critical analytical skills that will help them begin a plant breeding career. The PB certificate requires a minimum of 12 credit hours drawn from core courses in the Departments of Horticulture and Crop Science and Molecular Genetics combined with an elective based on student preferences, which will allow tailoring of the certificate to specific fields.
- Any 1 of these 2 courses
- BIOL 1101: Introductory Biology (4 credits)
- BIOL 1113: Biological Sciences: Energy Transfer and Development (4 credits)
- Any 1 of these 2 courses
- CHEM 1110: Elementary Chemistry (5 credits)
- CHEM 1210: General Chemistry I (5 credits)
- HCS 2260 (or equivalent data course): Data Analysis and Interpretation for Decision Making (3 credits)
8-9 credit hours
- Any 1 of these 2 courses
- HCS 2202 or 2202E: Form and Function in Cultivated Plants* (4 credits)
- MOLGEN 3300: General Plant Biology (3 credits)
- Any 1 of these 2 courses
- HCS 5325: Plant Genetics* (4 credits)
- MOLGEN 4500: General Genetics (3 credits)
- HCS 5825: Plant Breeding (2 credits)
Select a minimum of 3-4 credits* from the courses listed below
- Any 1 of these 4 courses
- HCS 4193: Individual Studies** (1-3 credits)
- HCS 4998: Undergraduate Research** (1-3 credits)
- HCS 4999: Research with Distinction** (1-3 credits)
- HCS 4999H: Honors Research with Distinction** (1-3 credits)
- Any 1 of these 2 courses
- HCS 5335: Advances in High Throughput Phenotyping (3 credits)
- FABENG 5335: Advances in High Throughput Phenotyping (3 credits)
- HCS 5625: Applied Plant Biotechnology (2 credits)
- EEOB 5330: Population Genetics & Phylogeography*** (3 credits)
Restrictions and general info
- A minimum 2.00 cumulative point-hour ratio is required in the Certificate course work; and a minimum grade of a C- is required for each course used to complete this Certificate.
- A student is permitted to overlap up to 50% of credit hours between other degree programs (major, minor, other certificates, or GE).
- Course work graded Pass/Non-Pass cannot count in the Certificate program and no more than 3 credit hours of course work graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory may count toward the Certificate.
- No more than 3 credit hours of 3488 (Professional Development), 4193 (Individual Studies), 4189 (Field Experience), 4999 (Research with Distinction), or 4999H (Honors Research with Distinction) may count toward the Certificate.
- A student is permitted to count up to 6 total hours of transfer credit and/or credit by examination toward the Certificate program.
- At least 12 total credit hours counting in the Certificate must be earned in regular OSU coursework.
- Consult with Advisor for filing deadlines.
Please note
- *Students in SPS-Agronomy are required to take HCS2202 and HCS5235, and some students in SPS-Plant BioSciences, Agroecology, Turfgrass Science, Controlled Environment Agriculture, and Horticulture might take HCS2202 (required) and HCS5325 (elective). Since only 6 cr hr may overlap between the degree program and the PB Certificate, such students will need at least 4 cr hr of additional supporting courses to meet the 50% threshold of overlap.
- **Students conducting individual studies or undergraduate research (1-3 cr hr) should take this with a faculty whose focus is plant breeding (consult the Coordinating Advisor)
- ***This course has the pre-requisite EEOB 3310, which has the pre-requisite BIOL 1114.
Program requirements can grow and change - always be sure to check with the certificate advisor to ensure you are on the right track.