Advising philosophy:
My goal as an advisor is to help graduate
students become broadly trained in ecology and evolution while they
develop an independent body of research that is in line with their
interests and career goals. You may work on
your own system or under the umbrella of one of my research
systems, but in either case it is important that you learn to identify
interesting questions
and creative, feasible approaches as an independent researcher.
This process is fun and rewarding, but it is also a lot of hard
work and it can be frustrating at times. To succeed you must really
love what you do and be committed to your project. In return, I
am committed to mentoring my students and I will be available for
regular one-on-one meetings and advice. Students should plan to
be engaged in lab meetings, journal clubs and seminars and to interact
with other lab groups on campus. Funding can come from some combination
of fellowships, grants, TAships, or RAships off of my research grants.
I will encourage you to
apply for your own fellowships and research grants whenever possible
and I will work with you to obtain funding.
Resources:
I joined the Biology faculty at CSU in
January 2008 and I am working to build a diverse and collaborative
lab group in plant evolutionary ecology. The lab will have equipment
and supplies for doing field work (reciprocal transplants, demographic
censuses, collecting), greenhouse work (pollinations, grow outs
for trait measurement), growth chamber experiments, plant physiological
measurements (gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence) and PCR-based
genetic work. CSU has excellent greenhouse, herbarium and isotope
analysis facilities. A diverse group of biologists can be found
across numerous departments at CSU and at nearby state and federal
agencies. Rocky
Mountain National Park, the Shortgrass
Steppe Long-Term
Ecological Research site, and many other natural areas offer
local opportunities for field research. Read more about these and
other resources here.
Plus, Fort Collins is a terrific place to live, especially if you
like outdoor recreation and/or microbrews.
Application
guidelines:
If you are interested in joining my lab, please
email me the following: 1) a description of your academic and work
background, 2) your research interests for grad school, 3) why you
want to go to grad school and your longer term career goals, and
4) why you're interested in CSU and my lab in particular.
You may apply to my lab through the Department
of Biology or the Graduate
Degree Program in Ecology. See their websites for application
deadlines and admissions requirements. You should also apply
for any fellowships for which you are eligible (e.g., National Science
Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Environmental Protection
Agency STAR Fellowship, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Diversity Fellowship).
