Updated: Spring 2023
If you are interested in developing a grant proposal, either for NSF or another source, please get in touch!
YSE has an excellent joint PhD program with New York Botanical Garden.
In my current non-ladder faculty position, I am unable to directly supervise PhD students, but can co-advise if they are registered with ladder faculty.
I am able to directly advise Masters students in the MESc and MFS programs, as well as advise MEM and MF students.
The qualities I look for in graduate students include: highly motivated to pursue answers to outstanding questions in ecology and evolution, an integrative research approach, ability to learn and train themselves, good quantitative, analytical, reasoning, writing and editing skills.
Facilities in the School and other Departments are good for conducting lab, greenhouse, field or computer-based approaches.
If you are interested in pursuing graduate work in my lab, please email a statement of your research interests and a CV/Resume that gives your educational background (GPA, relevant biology, math and statistics classes), related work/field/lab experience, publications if any, and GRE scores if available. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
YSE has a new program to support students from the global south: https://environment.yale.edu/three-cairns
Phd and research Masters students are eligible to apply for NSF graduate fellowships. Students can apply in the year before they start a graduate program (October 21st deadline this year), and then again in their 1st year.
Each Fellowship consists of three years of support during a five-year fellowship period. Currently, NSF provides a stipend of $34,000 to the Fellow and a cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 to the graduate degree-granting institution for each Fellow who uses the fellowship support in a fellowship year.
More details here.
I encourage sincere, hardworking and motivated undergraduate students to actively participate in research projects or to conduct their own independent research. Please see here for undergraduates who have worked in the lab.
If you are interested in gaining practical experience in ecology and evolution and you are interested in the research described on this website, please contact me to discuss possibilities. Please include details of the courses you have taken/are taking, current GPA, etc.
For more details, please see the Yale Undergraduate Research Database.
The EEB department has great resources on undergraduate research, as well as a description of the lab by a previous undergraduate.
The Yale Tropical Resources Institute has some funding available for senior thesis work.
Estien et al. 2022. Demystifying the graduate school application process. Bulletin of the ESA, 104. e02029. link
Before you write to me (or any potential advisor!) please read and think about the ideas suggested in the following links:
https://conservationbytes.com/2015/04/01/how-to-contact-a-potential-phd-supervisor/
http://www.biodiverseperspectives.com/2015/02/12/advice-to-prospective-graduate-students/
https://contemplativemammoth.com/2013/04/08/so-you-want-to-go-to-grad-school-nail-the-inquiry-email/
https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2019/08/05/ask-us-anything-finding-ecology-phd-positions/
https://theprofessorisin.com/2011/07/25/how-to-write-an-email-to-a-potential-ph-d-advisor/
https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/advice-how-to-choose-a-phd-program/
https://stearnslab.yale.edu/some-modest-advice-graduate-students