Information for Prospective Students

Graduate Research Opportunities
Interested in graduate studies (MS or PhD) in our lab? Please see the research section to learn more about current projects in the lab and read a few of our publications. If you have research interests that overlap with mine, please send me a brief letter describing your background and research interests and include a current CV. Also, please take the time to read this very helpful advice to prospective students (written by Deane Bowers at U of Colorado, but the same principles apply here). Graduate students will be supported with a combination of research and teaching assistantships in the Department of Biological Sciences. All students are also encouraged to apply for external fellowships such as the National Science Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship (https://www.nsfgrfp.org). 

Please see https://www.biol.vt.edu/ for application details.
 
 
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
I am always looking for motivated undergraduates to join the lab. Generally students will begin as assistants on existing research projects, and can later advance to an independent project focusing on one of the several areas of research focus in the lab. Please contact me to discuss opportunities in the lab.


Our values

We aim to facilitate a lab culture that is emotionally supportive, inclusive, and respectful of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Our goal is for each lab member to be comfortable in our group as their authentic self. We abide by the VT Principles of Community, which state:

Virginia Tech is a public land-grant university, committed to teaching and learning, research, and outreach to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world community. Learning from the experiences that shape Virginia Tech as an institution, we acknowledge those aspects of our legacy that reflected bias and exclusion. Therefore, we adopt and practice the following principles as fundamental to our on-going efforts to increase access and inclusion and to create a community that nurtures learning and growth for all of its members:

• We affirm the inherent dignity and value of every person and strive to maintain a climate for work and learning based on mutual respect and understanding.
• We affirm the right of each person to express thoughts and opinions freely. We encourage open expression within a climate of civility, sensitivity, and mutual respect.
• We affirm the value of human diversity because it enriches our lives and the University. We acknowledge and respect our differences while affirming our common humanity.
• We reject all forms of prejudice and discrimination, including those based on age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, and veteran status. We take individual and collective responsibility for helping to eliminate bias and discrimination and for increasing our own understanding of these issues through education, training, and interaction with others.
• We pledge our collective commitment to these principles in the spirit of the Virginia Tech motto of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).