The Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University has a strong and growing group of ecologists. We are actively recruiting highly motivated students as MS and PhD candidates in our program. The following faculty are seeking graduate students for the fall 2015: Brent Danielson: Community ecology, especially of small mammals or mammal-driven - plant communities. We are interested in learning how the interactions between species affect community structure, habitat structure, or ecosystem function in large-scale landscapes ranging from prairie restorations and maintenance to regulation of agricultural weed and insect pests. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessie/ Diane Debinski: Grassland restoration, pollinator conservation and climate change. We study grassland restoration, pollinator communities, and climate change in Midwestern grasslands and montane meadows. Our approach integrates community ecology, conservation biology, and restoration ecology. We use observational and experimental field ecology, modelling, and macroecological approaches. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~debinski/ Kirsten Hofmockel: Metagenomics of microbial communities. We are especially interested in how plant-microbe interactions mediate biogeochemical responses to global climate change. Our approach integrates physiological, metagenomic and ecosystem process data. kirstenhofmockel.org. Kirk Moloney: Plant population and community ecology in a spatial context, with an emphasis on invasive species. Our lab employs a number of approaches, ranging from experimentation, GIS analysis, field biology, simulation modeling and theory. http://kmoloney.public.iastate.edu
Tracy Heath: Statistical phylogenetics, computational biology, macroevolution, molecular evolution. Research involves integrative Bayesian modeling to understand evolutionary processes driving patterns of diversification in the tree of life. http://phyloworks.org Brian Wilsey: Ecology and restoration of prairie grasslands. How biodiversity is maintained in prairie grassland systems, how it is altered by non-native species, how it alters ecosystem resistance and resilience to changes in the environment. www.public.iastate.edu/~bwilsey/homepage.htm Interested students are encouraged to contact faculty directly with a letter of interest and CV. Research and teaching assistantships and a variety of fellowship opportunities are open to students. Students may apply to one of the interdepartmental graduate programs, such as Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/EEB/), Environmental Science (http://www.ensci.iastate.edu/grad/homepage.html), Interdepartmental Genetics (http://www.genetics.iastate.edu/) or Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (http://www.bcb.iastate.edu/). The deadline for receipt of all application materials for graduate programs is 10 January 2015, although earlier submission is encouraged to ensure full consideration for available fellowships.
