Project Dragonfly Graduate Program | Master's Degrees in Biology

Join Miami University's Project Dragonfly and ignite ecological and social change. Our innovative master's programs and professional development opportunities blend flexible online learning with applied conservation in your community and incredible field study worldwide.

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Dragonfly by the Numbers

3000+

students, staff, and alumni making a difference globally

450+

publications authored by Dragonfly students

28+

long-term relationships with world-class zoos, botanical gardens, and NGOs globally

30+

years of experience making education more inclusive and impactful

Our Programs at a Glance

Housed in the Department of Biology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, but spanning the globe, Project Dragonfly is a transformative education initiative with master’s degree programs in biology, graduate courses, and community partnerships across the U.S. and globally. Grounded in the core values of inquiry, community, and voice, students can tailor their learning experience to their overall goals and interests.

Choose the Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) for hands-on learning at top zoos and botanical gardens or the Global Field Program (GFP) for Earth Expeditions in conservation hotspots — both deliver an online master's in biology from Miami University in just 35 credits.

graphic showing the difference betweem the AIP and GFP.

Our graduate students are opening new frontiers in community innovation and education while earning their master’s degrees. They work alongside nomadic herders saving wild horses in Mongolia, citizen scientists increasing pollinator diversity in the Bronx, Maasai women pursuing equity and sustainability in Kenya, and conservationists leading the recovery of burrowing owls in California. We champion inquiry-driven learning and shared action to support a better, more collaborative, just, and sustainable future.

Students being talked to by an AIP instructor

Advanced Inquiry Program

Choose this option if you live near one of our AIP Sites and are interested in connecting locally/regionally with conservation education practitioners.

Global Field Program

Choose this option if you want to travel internationally over three summers and engage with global conservation issues.

Choose Your Degree

Regardless of which program you choose, you can earn one of two degrees. Not sure? That’s okay—you can change your target degree and major once admitted to the program. Both degrees are 35 credit hours, offered part-time, and can be completed over 2.5–5.

M.A. vs. M.A.T.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) in Biology

This degree option is for any applicant with a bachelor’s degree interested in advancing their career through leadership, community engagement, life sciences, and environmental stewardship.

This program is rooted in rigorous, field-tested science. While this is a non-thesis degree, you will independently design and conduct original, applied field studies. With faculty guidance, many of our students engage in practitioner-based research directly within their home institutions, such as zoos, aquariums, nature centers, or nonprofits.

Instead of a traditional thesis, you will build a robust professional portfolio. Through our Community Leadership Challenge and Authorship Leadership Challenge, you will join hundreds of Dragonfly alumni who have secured independent grant funding, presented at national conferences, and published their original research in peer-reviewed science journals. Graduates frequently leverage the rigorous skills gained in this program to earn workplace promotions, and many have successfully gone on to pursue Ph.D. programs—all through a nationally ranked university with reduced tuition.

The Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) in the Biological Sciences

Designed for formal and informal educators, this degree provides real-world experiences that advance educational standards through research-based practices for student achievement in core content areas. (Please note: This degree is not intended to lead to educator certification.)

The M.A.T. track brings rigorous, inquiry-driven scientific research directly to your classroom or organization. With faculty guidance, you will learn to design and implement applied, practitioner-based research studies with real-world learning outcomes.

Through the creation of a comprehensive master's portfolio, you will document your growth as both an educator and a scientist. By completing community engagement projects and our Authorship Leadership Challenge, you will join hundreds of Dragonfly educators who have published original research, presented at major educational conferences, and secured grants to fund their work. The real-world skills developed in the M.A.T. track frequently help educators earn promotions or advance to doctoral studies—allowing you to elevate your career while working full-time.

Professional Learning Opportunities

Project Dragonfly offers a variety of Professional Learning Opportunities that can be taken independently or as part of a master's degree sequence. These graduate-level courses cover topics such as wildlife conservation, animal behavior, urban ecology, and environmental education. Course types include:

Fully Online Courses: Focused on local community engagement.
AIP Web+ Courses: Blended online and in-person experiential learning at U.S.-based AIP sites.
Earth Expeditions: Immersive international field experiences.
Graduate Certificates: Offered in global culture and applied marine conservation (see below).

Graduate Certificate Options

Don’t need a full master’s or want to earn a certificate in addition to your master’s? Project Dragonfly offers the below options, which can be earned in a little over a year.

Global Culture and Conservation

This unique hybrid, field-based certificate offers unparalleled opportunities for deep cultural immersion and engagement with the rich interplay of spiritual ecology and local/traditional ecological knowledge. Through travel to some of the most culturally and biologically rich regions of the planet (India, Thailand, Paraguay, Belize, or Guyana), students will gain practical experience in understanding how diverse spiritual, cultural, and belief systems (like Hinduism, Buddhism, Guarani, Kriol/Maya, and Makushi cultures, among others) can successfully support and integrate with conservation efforts.

Applied Marine Conservation

This unique hybrid, field-based certificate offers unparalleled opportunities to engage in applied marine conservation and stewardship across some of the world’s most critical and iconic ocean environments (Australia, Baja, Belize, Galapagos, The Bahamas). Students will gain practical experience in social-ecological methods such as coral reef ecology, marine mammal surveying, and aquatic data collection, providing skills for communicating about and protecting marine biodiversity.