To Prospective Graduate Students -

Our lab is fully occupied right now (there are no open positions for new graduate students through Academic Year 2008-2009).

However, if you are considering a graduate student position in the lab after that, please read the following:

  • Do you see grad school as your best opportunity to immerse yourself in a subject that fascinates you? To be a grad student is to value ideas and learning more highly than material wealth. Grad school is not just a ticket to a job or a means to delay paying student loans. About 7% of the US population earns a Master's degree and 1% earns a PhD. Think about that for a minute. Those who complete grad school do so because they love to learn, despite the hurdles.

  • Are you interested in some of the journal articles and other information available on this lab's web page? You should understand the research topics I've been interested in, though we don't have to work on the same subjects. Presumably, I can best advise you on research that is somewhat related to my experience.

  • Do you like ecology because it is interwoven with math, statistics, and computing? You should, because it is. I'm interested in students who are adept in all these skills, or who want to become so.

  • Do you think of yourself as independent and responsible? The best part of my job is advising student research projects, because its fun to help and watch students develop their own ideas and carry them through. I try to balance my responsibility to be actively engaged as an advisor with the need for students to learn on their own and emerge the richer for the experience.

  • Do you enjoy working with people from a variety of backgrounds? Our lab and department includes grad students who are varied in experience and backgrounds, and are quite interactive. You are quite likely to learn more from other grad students than from me, and that means you should enjoy interactions with your colleagues.

You should also know that :

  • Entry to grad school is very competitive and is based on your grade point average, GRE exam scores, letters of recommendation, openings in my lab, and availability of financial support, typically as a teaching assistant (TA) or research assistant (RA). The first three items depend on you: the last two depend on timing and opportunity here. The last two items may preclude your being a grad student in my lab, despite your credentials. I recommend this article for further insight.

  • You're not an undergraduate anymore. Of course, you are expected to do well in your courses. But beyond that, you must also excel as a TA or RA and be an active member of the lab (i.e., fully participate in lab meetings, help others with their research, and carry your weight in shared lab jobs and as a member of the department). Most importantly, you're expected to make steady progress on high-quality research. The goal from the outset is to publish that research, which imposes stringent criteria and demands excellence throughout. To accomplish all that requires strong motivation and a lot of work.

If you answered Yes to the questions and you're comfortable with the other two points above, then please contact me with an explanation of your answers to the questions above. It will be most helpful if your letter also describes the research questions that interest you, your related experience, a brief summary of your academic credentials (GPA, GRE scores, etc.), and why you chose to contact me among your many academic options.

- Dave Jenkins