Graduate and Professional Training Courses

The National Zoo is dedicated to furthering the education of current and future conservation professionals, including graduate students, scientists, resource managers, educators, industry representatives and staff of government and non-government organizations. Smithsonian staff and research associates have offered training courses on a variety of topics for over three decades. Building on the world-renowned training courses of the Smithsonian, new opportunities for graduates and professionals are now being offered.

All six Centers of Excellence at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute offer a variety of training opportunities, and center researchers provide instruction in our Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation courses. If you are interested in a customized program, please email us.

Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation Courses

In collaboration with George Mason University, many of our courses are offered either as non-credit continuing education or for graduate credit.

Explore the courses below, and follow the links to learn how to apply.

Frequently Asked Questions and Responses

• May 19-25, 2012: Non-Invasive Genetic Techniques in Wildlife Conservation
  Learn cutting edge genetic methods from the field’s experts and apply them to real conservation problems.
• June 11-22, 2012: Adaptive Management for Conservation Success
  Build your capacity in team-based design, planning, implementation, and monitoring of real conservation projects.
• October 15-26, 2012: Applied Climate Change
  Gain practical resources and skills for using climate change data, modeling, impacts and adaptation.
• October 29-November 9, 2012: Spatial Ecology, Geospatial Analysis, and Remote Sensing for Conservation
  Learning to detect, monitor, map and model local and global changes in biological and ecological systems.
• November 4-10, 2012: Effective Conservation Leadership
  Cultivating leadership, communication, and teamwork approaches and applying them to diverse conservation situations.
• December 3-7, 2012: Designing and Implementing a Biodiversity Action Plan for Conservation and Development
  Learn strategies for developing and implementing a biodiversity action plan for a company.
• March 3-14, 2013: Statistics for Ecology and Conservation Biology
  Establishing the theoretical framework and essential quantitative skills for effective research design and implementation.
• April 1-12, 2013: Estimating Animal Abundance and Occupancy
  Build theoretical and technical expertise in study design and field data analysis and interpretation associated with the estimation of animal abundance and occupancy.
• April 29-May 10, 2013: Species Monitoring and Conservation: Terrestrial Mammals
  Learn current research and monitoring techniques and their application to conservation.

The Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation also offers graduate and professional certificates for qualified participants.

Learn more about the graduate certificate

Learn more about the professional certificate