I am recruiting graduate students to join me at the University of Oklahoma starting Fall 2018! My lab focuses on understanding the impacts of temporal variability in stress on ectotherms, and integrates tools from gene expression through to species distribution modeling at multiple levels of biological organization. In particular I am seeking a student who is fluent in either Python or R, with strong interests in ecological modelling and machine-learning methods for an NSF-funded Macrosystems project using machine learning to identify insects and understand predictors of species distribution, phenology, and biomass at the continental scale. Students in my laboratory are also encouraged to pursue their own interests in these fields.
Geographical ecology is a significant core focus of the OU Department of Biology, where I am part of a Geographical ecology cluster hire, together with Dan Allen (stream and riparian ecology) and Katie Marske (comparative phylogeography). Students will have the opportunity to interact with these and other talented faculty and students in the Geographical Ecology focus group and throughout the department: http://www.ou.edu/content/cas/biology.html. The University of Oklahoma is a Carnegie R1 institution of highest research activity, and provides a rich cultural and intellectual environment which has recently been ranked by the Princeton Review as in the top three universities in the USA for happiest students. Lab resources include a wet lab for RNA sequencing preparation, physiological assays, and thermal performance measures, a separate microscope room, access to cloud computing resources, and an insectary for insect rearing. Other Biology facilities on campus include a new Biology Core Genomics lab, the Oklahoma Biological Survey and the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. OU is also home to state-of-the-art climate and weather research, including the National Weather Center, the Oklahoma Mesonet, the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, and the South Central Climate Science Center. Funding for graduate students is currently available in the form of 10- month teaching assistantships with stipends, full tuition waivers and excellent health care coverage, numerous scholarships are available to support graduate student research during the summer, and the potential for NSF funding through the Macrosystems grant. Interested students should get in touch ([email protected]) with a brief summary of your research interests and relevant experiences and attach a resume/CV. Candidates from groups underrepresented in STEM are particularly encouraged to apply. Prospective students can read more about my work here: www.marshall- lab.com. OU Graduate studies: http://www.ou.edu/content/cas/biology/graduate-studies.html
