We are looking for a graduate student to join our research group beginning in fall semester 2015. The student would develop an independent research focus in line with ongoing lab projects. We are exploring how plant traits relate to community structure and function of decomposing fungi using culturing and next generation sequencing techniques and the consequences of these interactions for the forest carbon cycle in the Central and Eastern USA and Eastern Australia as climate changes. Additionally, we are looking at the evolution, ecology and physiology of plants across environmental gradients in various locations around the globe. The student would join an interactive lab group (http://www.phylodiversity.net/azanne/) that broadly focuses on plant and microbe structure and function (anatomy and physiological ecology), community ecology, and evolutionary ecology, both in the temperate and tropical areas. The graduate work will be completed at George Washington University. Washington, DC is a dynamic city with a wealth of ecologists and evolutionary biologists. We have strong links to area institutions, including the Smithsonian. George Washington University is located in the heart of DC, with easy access to numerous science, conservation, and policy based institutions. If you are interested in working with us, please send an email to me (Amy Zanne: aeza...@gmail.com) with brief details about your GPA, GRE, research interests, experience, and why you want to go to graduate school. For information about applying to the program, go to the George Washington University, Department of Biological Sciences website (http://departments.columbian.gwu.edu/biology/). The application deadline is 2 January 2015. I am also happy to answer any further questions you might have.
