Richard Gilder Graduate School

Richard Gilder Graduate School
Name	Richard Gilder Graduate School
Established	2006
Type	Private graduate school
Parent	American Museum of Natural History
Dean	John J. Flynn
City	New York City
State	New York
Country	United States
Campus	Urban

Richard Gilder Graduate School. It is a private graduate school embedded within the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Established in 2006, it was the first museum in the Western Hemisphere authorized to grant a doctoral degree. The school is dedicated to advanced training and research in the biological, geological, and anthropological sciences, leveraging the museum's vast collections and scientific staff.

History and establishment

The school was formally established in 2006, receiving degree-granting authority from the New York State Board of Regents. This landmark authorization made its parent institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the first museum in the Americas to award a Ph.D. degree. The creation of the graduate school was a strategic evolution of the museum's long-standing role in advanced scientific training, which had historically included collaborative programs with universities like Columbia University and the City University of New York. The initiative was driven by the museum's leadership, including then-president Ellen V. Futter, to formalize and expand its educational mission at the highest academic level.

Academic programs

The cornerstone of its academic offerings is the Ph.D. program in Comparative Biology, which is administered through the museum's Richard Gilder Graduate School. This interdisciplinary program focuses on research areas such as vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, paleontology, anthropology, and genomics. Students conduct dissertation research that directly utilizes the museum's unparalleled collections, which include holdings like the Fossil Mammal collection and the Anthropology collections. The school also offers a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) program in Earth science, designed to prepare educators for New York State certification.

Research and facilities

Research is intrinsically linked to the resources of the American Museum of Natural History. Students and faculty have direct access to world-class collections comprising tens of millions of specimens and cultural artifacts, including the Star of India sapphire and the famed Tyrannosaurus rex fossils. Laboratories are equipped for advanced work in fields like molecular systematics, stable isotope analysis, and computed tomography scanning. The school's location within the museum provides proximity to research centers such as the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics and the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.

Affiliation with the American Museum of Natural History

The graduate school is an integral academic division of the American Museum of Natural History, operating from within the museum's complex on Central Park West. This unique affiliation means that the museum's curators and research scientists serve as the core graduate faculty and advisors. The school's governance and academic standards are overseen by the museum's administration and its board of trustees, ensuring that its programs are deeply synergistic with the institution's scientific research and public exhibition missions.

Notable faculty and alumni

The faculty consists primarily of the museum's renowned curators and scientists. Notable faculty have included paleontologist and dean John J. Flynn, evolutionary biologist Rob DeSalle, and anthropologist Ian Tattersall. Alumni of its Ph.D. program have gone on to positions at major research institutions, museums, and universities. Their research contributions often gain recognition through publications in journals like *Science* and *Nature*, and through fieldwork on every continent, from the Gobi Desert to Madagascar.

Funding and the Richard Gilder name

The school is named for Richard Gilder, a prominent philanthropist, historical author, and co-founder of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. In 2005, Gilder and his business partner Richard Gilder Graduate School provided a transformative $25 million gift to endow the graduate school, which was subsequently named in his honor. Additional support comes from grants from organizations like the National Science Foundation and private donations, which fund student fellowships, faculty research, and the maintenance of critical research infrastructure.

Category:Graduate schools in the United States Category:American Museum of Natural History