Graduate Programs in HLA

Purdue University was founded in 1869 and is now ranked among the top 10 public universities in the U.S. The College of Agriculture, which includes the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, was ranked as #3 in North American and #5 in the world in 2023. Here at HLA, our goal is to prepare students through scholarly study and research experiences for professional careers in basic and applied plant science, with an emphasis on improving food, fiber, fuel, ornamental crops, and landscape management. We are committed to supporting the whole graduate education experience to create an environment that promotes student success and well-being.

Visit Purdue

• Controlled environment agriculture
• Horticultural Economics and Marketing
• Specialty crop production
• Landscape Systems and Design
• Plant breeding and genome engineering
• Plant secondary metabolism
• Plant mineral nutrition
• Postharvest physiology
• Plant epigenetics
• Plant interactions with soil microbial communities
• Regulation of plant architecture and reproduction
• Sustainable agriculture
• Social sciences
• Turf grass science
• Stress tolerance in crop plants
• Weed science in specialty crops and technology

Graduate Faculty in Horticulture and Area of Specialization

Students enter the graduate program with different professional objectives and varying academic backgrounds. Therefore, there are only a few required courses in our M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs as outlined in the graduate handbook. Students are advised to work with the advisory committee that they select to schedule coursework that will complement their research plan

Modern research laboratories and state-of-the-art analytical equipment are available for graduate student research in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, which also maintains greenhouses, controlled environment facilities, and several research farms.

Graduate students have access to one of the most extensive online libraries in the world and have access to extensive bioinformatics platforms, many of which have been developed at Purdue in collaboration with members of the HLA Department.

Most HLA graduate students often receive financial support in the form of research and teaching assistantships, fellowships and/or other awards covering living expenses while working on their degree. Research assistantships may be sponsored by grants or by the department. We try to provide all graduate students with the opportunity to be a Teaching Assistant for at least one semester; students selected to be Teaching Assistants will be provided a teaching assistantship for that semester at the same rate of pay as the research assistantship.

Admission criteria and selection for fellowships and assistantships is based upon several criteria. These include: the student's academic background, grade point average, letters of recommendation, relevant experience, a written statement by the applicant, answers to department-specific questions, and the availability of a major adviser in an applicant's interest area.

Applicants whose native language is not English must take the TOEFL, even if they are already in the United States when they apply. Purdue University Graduate School applicants who take the TOEFL IBT must achieve the following minimum test scores: reading 19; listening 14; speaking 18 and writing 18. As an alternative to the TOEFL, the Graduate School accepts IELTS scores of 6.5 or higher.

Students who are interested in being considered for Purdue University-wide fellowships should apply by December 1st for summer or fall admission. Applications for the HLA Graduate Program are otherwise accepted year-round. For timely review of the application that are submitted after the December 1st deadline, applicants should identify specific HLA faculty member who share their academic interests and contact these faculty directly before submitting their application, which will then be reviewed with support from the graduate faculty. To obtain instructions on how to apply to this program, please go to the Graduate School Application.

Purdue University Interdisciplinary Life Science Ph.D. program (PULSe)
Graduate School Electronic Application
Purdue University Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Purdue University Graduate School
Graduate School Calendar of Events
Purdue University
Purdue Center for Plant Biology (CPB)

The home of Purdue University is Indiana’s Lafayette-West Lafayette area. Conveniently located one hour northwest of Indianapolis and two hours southeast of Chicago, Lafayette-West Lafayette offers a small-town atmosphere with convenient and easy access to major metropolitan cities.