The Biology Department at Western Washington University has openings for graduate students starting Fall 2015. 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 current projects involve the ability of certain plant secondary metabolites to stop growth and/or toxin production by Aspergillus. Future research directions will include investigations of the molecular mechanisms by which these plant compounds alter fungal metabolism. We also are interested in the role of Aspergillus in colonization of plastics labeled biodegradable, in agricultural settings. Aspergillus is a key colonizer of such plastics but its ability to break down polymers is unclear, as is the extent of toxin formation during plastic colonization. Dave Hooper: Plant Community and Ecosystem Ecology. I will be accepting one graduate student in fall 2015. 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. Potential graduate student projects include: 1) experimental investigation of the mechanistic basis of sperm precedence in hybridizing Chrysochus beetles, 2) analyses of the factors influencing insect species richness in rapidly-declining natural habitats in the region (e.g., lowland prairies, coastal dunes), and 3) using a database of the region’s moth collections to document community-wide responses to climate change. 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, hybridization, and adaptation in host specific insects (apple maggot flies and relatives) on a USDA supported project. Students may also have the opportunity to collaborate with Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez on non-invasive molecular studies of seal foraging ecology. 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
