The Biology Department at Western Washington University has openings for graduate students starting Fall 2014. Faculty members in the department offer a wide range of expertise, from molecular biology to ecology. Graduate students are eligible for teaching assistantships, which fund the majority of tuition and provide a stipend of $12,116 per year. WWU is located in Bellingham, WA, a coastal city north of Seattle at the base of Mt. Baker in the northwestern part of the state.
Potential advisors Marion Brodhagen: Microbiology, molecular biology, and chemical ecology. Our lab studies the plant pathogenic fungus Aspergillus and aflatoxin, a potent toxin produced by this fungus. Our biggest projects currently involve the ability of plant secondary metabolites to stop growth and/or toxin production by Aspergillus. Possible new projects in the laboratory involve bacterial secondary metabolites, and their role in host-pathogen interactions and in microbial community ecology. Eric DeChaine: Arctic and alpine plant systematics and phylogeography. I am hoping to accept one student beginning Fall 2014. The work in my lab is currently focused on unraveling the biogeographic and evolutionary history of arctic-alpine plants of the north Pacific Rim through field, lab, and computer based geographic and genomic analyses. Dave Hooper: Plant Community and Ecosystem Ecology. I will be accepting one graduate student in fall 2014. My local research is currently focused on assessing ecosystem services associated with different scenarios of riparian restoration in Whatcom County. Student work would combine GIS analyses of ecosystem services and field work, particularly on nutrient retention, to validate modeling results. I also have opportunities focused on analyzing large data sets to understand aspects of biodiversity loss and assembly of plant communities. Robin Kodner: Marine Microbial Metagenomics. The Kodner lab does interdisciplinary work integrating marine microbial ecology with comparative genomics and bioinformatics for metagenomes. I am recruiting for one student for work on bioinformatics projects. Some experience with sequence analysis and programming required. Ben Miner: Students in my laboratory focus on how marine organisms alter their morphology and behavior in response to different environmental conditions, typically biotic conditions. Current projects in my lab include research on wasting disease in sea stars, predator-induced hatching plasticity in marine animals, context-dependent inducible offenses and defenses in marine organisms. Craig Moyer: My interests are marine microbiology and geomicrobiology focusing on molecular approaches for exploring microbial diversity, community structure and ecological interactions. Presently, my lab and I are focused on the study of iron-oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria acting as the ecosystem engineers in microbial mats found at strong redox boundaries, including seep, spring and vent habitats. We are also examining the evolutionary divergence of surface and deep subsurface Zetaproteobacteria in hydrothermal systems. Merrill Peterson: Ecology and Evolution of Insects. The primary focus of our lab is on insect diversification and diversity, ranging from experimental studies on insect speciation to comparative analyses of the effects of land use on insect community structure. The Peterson lab is currently seeking a student interested in analyzing the mechanistic basis of conspecific sperm precedence in hybridizing Chrysochus beetles. Such a study would combine controlled crosses with molecular and microscopic assays of sperm viability and fertilization success. Additional opportunities for students who wish to examine factors influencing the richness of insect communities in rapidly-declining natural habitats in the region (e.g., lowland prairies, coastal dunes) may also be available. Lynn Pillitteri: Plant Molecular and Developmental Biology. A potential graduate project in my lab would be aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms driving cell type differentiation in the model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana. Dietmar Schwarz: Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics, Evolutionary Ecology. Schwarz's lab offers opportunities to study speciation and hybridization in host specific insects (apple maggot flies and relatives). Students would also have the opportunity to collaborate with Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez on a molecular study of diet specialization in seals. Anu Singh-Cundy: Plant Physiology. We study plant reproduction at the physiological, cellular, and molecular levels. Current projects are focused on understanding the role of HD-AGPs, which are proteins that promote pollen tube growth, in members of the Solanaceae and also in Arabidopsis. More information can be found at: http://www.biol.wwu.edu/biology/gradprog_brochure.shtml or by contacting Dr. Ben Miner, Graduate Program Advisor, at benjamin.miner at wwu.edu
