The Graduate Studies Program at The New York Botanical Garden is currently operated in conjunction with the Plant Sciences Program at the Lehman College campus of the City University of New York (CUNY), the Biology Department at the New York University (NYU), the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at Columbia University, the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (FES) at Yale University and the Biology Department at Cornell University. The study of economic botany and ethnobotany is a basic component of botanical education at the various participating universities. Within the New York City area, NYU, Columbia and CUNY have consortia arrangements so that students enrolled at one school can cross-register for a course at another school with a minimum of paperwork. Courses offered by NYBG curators, in addition to those offered as training in systematic botany, include: Economic Botany, Man in the Global Environment, Pre-Columbian New World Ecosystems, Plant Resources in the Tropics and Neotropical Field Botany. Course formats run the gamut from lectures to labs to field courses. Most of the courses are team-taught so curators or faculty members with different research interests can lecture on topics within their specialties. In general, the goal of the program is to: 1) expose students to current issues relating to economically important plants, 2) promote the conservation of useful plants and their habitats and 3) study ways that plant resources can be used in a sustainable manner.

Key words: economic botany, ethnobotany, graduate education