Graduate Students
My goal as an advisor is to help graduate students become broadly trained in ecology and evolution and to develop an independent body of research that serves your long-term career interests. You may work in your own system or within one of the ongoing research projects in the lab, but either way it is essential that you learn to ask your own independent, informed research questions that you can then address in a tractable way. This process is very rewarding, but does require perseverance and hard work. First and foremost, I am looking for students who are passionate and enthusiastic about ecology, as a love for the science will serve you very well through the inevitable ups and downs of research. On my end, you can expect committed mentoring, regular one-on-one meetings, and the support to develop as an independent researcher. Students are expected to take advantage of the resources available by engaging in lab meetings, journal clubs, and interactions with other research groups on campus and in the area.
I am currently interested in accepting Ph.D. students through the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program at UCLA. If you are interested in applying, I encourage you to send me your CV and a letter of interest beforehand. Departmental funding for Ph.D. students is very competitive here, so if you are eligible for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program I encourage you to apply to this at the same time. For international students, please consider applying to any fellowship programs in your home country that are available to help support you.
You can read more about my mentoring philosophy here. I have always used collaboratively developed mentoring compacts as a way to discuss and establish norms and expectations of one another. Currently in EEB, we use a template for our mentorship compacts. My current starting template is here, and is iteratively modified with new mentees to arrive at something we are both satisfied with. You can have a look at this to learn more about my typical approaches to common mentorship topics, though every completed compact will be different depending on the needs of the mentee, and the compacts can be updated over time as needed.
Postdoctoral researchers
I am always interested in having postdocs join the lab. Please email me with your CV and a letter of interest and we can discuss research interests and funding opportunities that may be available externally or through the lab.
Undergraduates
There are opportunities in the lab for motivated undergraduates to get involved with our research, particularly for students with background and experience in ecology and related fields. Please take a look at the Research page to explore what kinds of questions and projects might be most of interest to you, and please include an unofficial transcript, a resume or CV, and a brief note about your interests and goals when contacting us.
Lab meetings
We meet weekly during the academic year, typically on Mondays. Lab meetings are open to researchers from other labs. The goals and norms for our meetings can be found here.
