The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rice University (Houston, TX) invites applications for admission into our Ph.D. program. The Ecology group within the department spans population, community, and evolutionary ecology with particular strengths in the dynamics of biotic interactions, including herbivory, mutualism, symbiosis, cannibalism, and infectious diseases (see http://eeb.rice.edu/faculty.html). Our program offers highly competitive financial support and light teaching requirements for graduate students. We are located in Houston, Texas, an exciting, diverse, and affordable city with world-class opportunities for dining, arts, and entertainment and access to diverse terrestrial and aquatic environments. The following labs will be accepting new PhD students in 2012: Tom Miller -- Research in the lab is focused on demography, population dynamics, and inter-specific interactions, mostly in plant and insect systems. We use a combination of mathematical models, long-term demographic monitoring, and experiments in the field and laboratory to address population- and community-level questions. Areas of emphasis include: spatial spread of invasions; effects of herbivores and mutualists on plant population dynamics; evolution of plant life histories; and population dynamics of dioecious (two-sex) organisms. We conduct field work in Texas, Florida, New Mexico, and Colorado. Website: http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~tm9/ Email: [email protected] Jennifer Rudgers Our work explores the dynamics and ecological consequences of symbiosis, mainly focused on interactions among plants, microbes, and arthropods. Key topics include the contribution of symbiosis to plant commonness, rarity, and invasiveness, impacts of climate change on plant-based interactions, effects of mutualisms on community structure and ecosystem processes, population dynamics of symbiosis, and the evolution of complexity via symbiosis. We use field, greenhouse, and laboratory experiments across diverse ecosystems (alpine meadows, sand dunes, forest understory communities, grasslands and prairies) and molecular tools for species identifications. email [email protected] Websites: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~planteco/index.html AND http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~jrudgers/
Completed applications should be received by January 10 to ensure full consideration. There is no application fee for US citizens and permanent residents. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact potential faculty advisors before applying. Complete information about the graduate program, including application instructions, may be found at http://eeb.rice.edu/graduate.html.
